Y^  \  -^  ti 


'Cl^ 


ii 


TOALLPEOPLE." 


COMPRISING 


SERMONS.   BIBLE    READINGS, 


AND 

PRAYER-MEETING  TALKS. 

Delivered  hi  the   Boston    Tabernacle^ 
BY 

D.  L  MOODY. 

From  the  Boston  Daily  Globe  Verbatim  Reports, 
Carefully  Revised  and  Corrected. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
By    rev.    JOSEPH    COOK. 


"Behold  I  bring  you  Glad  Tidings  of  Great  Joy,  which  shall  be  to  aii    pkoplk."— Luke  il  Id 


NEW  YORK: 
E.  B.  TREAT,  805  Broadway. 

L.  T.  PALMER  &  CO.,  Chicago  :    W.  S.  FORSHEE  &  CO.,  Cincinna-'I 
EBEN  SHUTE,  Boston. 
1877. 


^1 

1  ^ 


'rPHE   BOSTON  PAI'EX 

ANNOUNCEMENT. 

Moody's  Sermons  in  Boston  have  been  reported  in  the  Boston  Daily 
GhW^  and  so  many  thousands  of  our  readers  have  evinced  a  desire  to 
have  these  complete  and  authentic  reports  brought  out  in  book  form, 
that  we  have  made  arrangements  with  Mr.  E.  B.  Treat,  of  New  York, 
the  well-known  publisher,  to  bring  out  the  Daily  Globe  edition  of  these 
Sermons,  Mr.  Moody  himself  has  said,  in  regard  to  the  Daily  Globe 
Reports,  that  he  never  had  been  so  well  reported  in  any  part  of  the 
world  by  any  newspaper.  Mr.  Treat  will  be  furnished  with  all  of  our 
reporters'  notes.  The  few  mistakes  that  may  have  occurred  in  the  un- 
avoidable haste,  necessary  to  present  those  reports  the  next  morning  after 
delivery  in  readable  shape,  will  be  corrected,  and  omissions,  for  want  of 
space  on  *'  crowded  "  days,  will  be  given  in  this  book.  The  general 
excellence  and  uniform  accuracy  of  the  Globe  reports,  have  been  appre- 
ciated by  thousands  of  people  throughout  New  England,  and  we  feel  sure 
all  will  be  anxious  to  secure  and  treasure  up  a  bound  copy  of  these  earn- 
est, vigorous  and  effective  sermons. 

THE   GLOBE    PUBLISHING   CO. 
Boston,  March  2J,  1877. 


Copyright, 

1877. 

E.     B.     TREAT. 


^  PRIITCETOIT    ^^ 


EVANfeiXISM,  IN   5P^TQ 

BY   REv//^'fiI^!fiF?&OK 

In  the  city  of  Edinburg  the  American  evangehsts 
who  are  now  in  Boston  never  had  a  hall  that  would 
seat  over  1500.  They  reached  the  Scottish  metropolis 
November  22,  1873,  and  left  it  January  21,  1874.  They 
have  now  been  here  as  long  as  they  were  in  Edinburg. 
It  will  always  be  incontrovertible  that  a  structure 
which  holds  from  6000  to  7000  people  has  been  opened 
in  Boston  for  religious  audiences,  and'that  week  after 
week  for  two  months,  on  every  fair  day,  and  often 
twice  or  thrice  a  day,  when  an  undiluted  Christianity 
has  been  proclaimed  there,  this  Boston  building  has 
been  filled  to  copious  overflowing.  What  otJier  cause 
would  have  filled  it  as  often  and  as  long?  This  is 
the  large  question  which  Edinburg  and  London,  Chi- 
cago and  San  Francisco,  will  ask.  As  a  help  to  an 
interior  view  of  Massachusetts  and  its  capital,  it  is  not 
improper  for  me  to  state,  what  the  evangelists  therq- 
selves  could  not,  perhaps,  with  propriety  s^y  publicly, 
that  their  opinion  is  that  in  Boston  the  average  result 
of  their  work  has  been  better  than  it  was  in  Edin- 
burg. Both  the  evangelists  have  expressed,  with 
detailed  reasons  and  emphasis,  that  opinion  to  me, 
and  neither  of  them  has  asked  me  to  state  the  opinion 
publicly. 

Harvard  and  Yale  both  strenuously  opposed  George 
Whitefield,  and  now  both  regret  their  opposition.    Did 


6  TO   ALL   PEOPLE. 

you  notice  that  the  revered  president  of  Boston  Uni- 
versity was  reported  as  having  silenced  a  group  of 
critics  at  the  obsolescent  Chestnut-street  Ckib  the 
other  day,  by  an  invuhierable  indorsement  of  the 
general  character  of  the  religious  work  now  being 
performed  in  this  city  ?  This  indorsement  came  from 
a  scholar  of  whom  it  can  be  said,  as  I  think  it  cannot 
be  of  any  other  New  England  president  of  a  college, 
that  before  he  finished  his  yet  recent  German  studies 
he  had  written  in  German  an  elaborate  work  on  reli- 
gious science,  abreast  of  the  latest  thought.  Boston 
University,  led  by  this  incomparable  scholar  of  the 
freshest  and  severest  German  training,  is  as  cordial 
toward  the  American  evangelists  as  the  great  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburg  was.  When  Phillips  Brooks  appears 
in  the  tabernacle,  the  culture  of  Boston  and  the  stu- 
dents of  Harvard  are  there.  Of  course  Harvard  Uni- 
versity differs  from  Edinburg  University  in  its  religious 
attitude ;  and  for  that  fact  there  are  reasons,  prolonged, 
historic,  adequate,  but,  thank  God,  of  waning  force  ! 
When  James  VI.  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  1582, 
Edinburg  University  was  founded ;  and  it  was  fed 
from  the  Scottish  Universities  of  St.  Andrews  and 
Glasgow,  which  began  their  stalwart  career  before 
America  was  discovered.  University  life  in  Scotland 
had  venerableness  when  Harvard  was  yet  in  the  gristle. 
It  has  had  a  longer  time  than  Harvard  in  which  to 
judge  creeds  by  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 
It  is  wiser,  therefore  ;  but  Harvard  one  day  will  be 
wise  under  that  law. 

Are  there  any  points  of  superiority  in  this  religious 
awakening  to  that  which  occurred  in  Boston  in  the 
days  of  Whitefield  ?     It  must  be  admitted  that  there 


EVANGELISM  IN  BOSTON.  7 

arc  some  points  of  inferiority,  but  are  there  any  of 
superiority  ?  We  are  a  larger  and  more  heterogene- 
ous community  now  than  we  were  then ;  we  are  fuller 
of  commercial  activity  ;  our  heads  are  in  newspapers 
and  ledgers  and  not  as  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the 
early  New  England  fathers  were,  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. Nevertheless,  it  was  a  temporarily  demoralized 
community  which  Whitefield  and  Edwards  addressed. 
A  practical  union  of  Church  and  State  had  so  secular- 
ized religious  society  that  it  had  sunk  farther  away 
from  Scriptural  and  scientific  ideals  than  the  present 
religious  society  of  New  England  has  done.  We  all 
hold  now  that  the  ministry  ought  to  be  made  up  of 
converted  men  and  that  no  one  should  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  unless  he  can  give  credible  evidence 
of  having  entered  upon  a  rehgious  life.  But  in  White- 
field's  day  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  insist  upon  what 
is  now  a  commonplace  truth,  that  conversion  should 
precede  entrance  upon  the  ministry  and  church  mem- 
bership. In  Edwards'  day  many  circles  of  the  New 
England  population  had  forgotten  the  necessity  of  the 
new  birth,  or  did  not  believe  that  it  is  an  ascertainable 
change  ;  and  so  there  was  a  hush  in  the  revival  when 
Whitefield  was  here  ;  a  sense  of  sin  which  ought  to 
exist  now,  but  which  probably  does  not  for  a  great 
variety  of  reasons,  not  all  of  them  to  be  classed  as 
proofs  of  the  shallowness  of  the  present  effort.  Would 
that  we  had  such  loyalty  to  the  scientific  method  as  to 
have  an  adequate  sense  of  our  dissonance  with  the 
nature  of  things  !  It  were  good  for  us  and  for  Amer- 
ica if  we  had  in  Boston  to-day  just  that  far-pene- 
trating gaze  which  filled  the  eyes  of  New  England 
one  hundred   years  ago,  as  Whitefield  and   Edwards 


8  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

turned  our  fathers'  countenances  toward  the  Unseen 
Holy  ! 

In  one  particular,  however,  this  revival  certainly 
surpasses  that  under  Whitefield  in  this  city  in  1740, 
namely,  in  the  extent  to  which  types  have  been  conse- 
crated to  the  work  of  sending  religious  truths  abroad 
through  the  newspaper  press.  All  the  leading  and  all 
the  respectable  newspapers  of  Boston  have  favored  the 
revival.  It  is  well,  my  friends,  that  you  should  give 
encouragement  to  the  hardest-worked  class  in  your 
community,  the  reporters.  Not  only  day  and  night, 
but  day  inside  of  day,  and  night  inside  of  night,  mak- 
ing two  hours  out  of  every  one,  these  men  are  obliged 
to  follow  with  lightning  speed  the  demands  of  the  press 
for  copy — of  what  ?  Of  the  dullest  of  all  things  on 
earth  to  report,  sermons.  English,  German,  and 
French  travellers  say  very  suggestively  that  the  char- 
acteristic of  American  newspaper  management,  as 
distinguished  from  European,  is  that  we  are  willing  to 
print  sermons  copiously  on  Monday  mornings.  No 
doubt  it  pays  to  publish  such  discourses  ;  but  I  am 
not  one  of  those  who  think  that  the  critics  are  right 
who  judge  acutely  that  Mr.  Sankey's  chief  motive  in 
hfe  is  to  sell  a  great  number  of  his  song-books  and 
organs.  Neither  am  I  of  the  opinion  that  all  the  space 
the  daily  newspaper  press  gives  to  religious  truth  is 
the  result  of  a  whisper  from  the  counting-room.  Let 
us  be  just  to  the  corporations  that  manage  our  news- 
papersj  and  not  accuse  them  of  being  altogether  mer- 
cenary. No  doubt  counting-rooms  are  sometimes 
hung  around  the  necks  of  editors  as  mill-stones  around 
the  necks  of  babes  in  the  waves  ;  and  it  takes  a  giant 
like  Horace  Greeley  to  be  at  once  a  reformer  and  an 


EVANGELISM  IN  BOSTON.  p 

editor.  It  is  easier  for  the  platform  than  for  the  press 
to  speak  for  to-morrow  against  the  dissent  of  to-day. 
But  the  best  part  of  our  press  not  only  mirrors  but 
leads  public  sentiment,  and  speaks  for  to-morrow 
against  the  rivalry  of  the  poorer  part  of  both  platform 
and  press,  which  speak  only  for  to-day.  Encourage 
all  speakers  for  to  morrow. 

By  the  way,  I  did  not  think  of  mentioning  the  mat- 
ter, but  three  of  the  newspapers  of  Boston  which  I 
have  just  been  eulogizing,  have  treated  what  this  plat- 
form has  said  on  Romanism  in  America  with  elaborate 
inaccuracy.  I  have  been  advised  to  say  nothing  more 
on  the  topic,  if  I  am  wise,  and  therefore  I  say  some- 
thing more  on  it.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  newspaper 
press  of  Boston  owns  this  lectureship.  What  I  said 
was  not  that  I  have  objection  to  Romish  priests  at 
Charlestown  appearing  there  and  being  of  solace  to 
Romish  convicts.  My  proposition  is  that  we  had  bet- 
ter not  depart  from  the  American  principle  that  all 
religious  sects,  Romanists  included,  must  pay  their 
own  bills.  The  voice  of  this  audience  is  worth  at  least 
as  much  as  that  of  any  one  evening  newspaper  in 
Boston  !  I  object  to  a  division  of  State  funds  among 
sectarian  State  chaplains,  and  this  because  the  prece- 
dent would  be  the  entering  wedge  for  a  sectarian 
division  of  the  school  fund.  Of  course,  I  expect  no 
credit  for  advocating  that  proposition  until  about  fifty 
years  hence.  I  speak  for  to-morrow  and  not  for  to- 
day. 

In  the  next  place,  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned  that 
religious  visitation  from  house  to  house,  and  espe- 
cially among  the  perishing  and  degraded,  is  now  going 
forward  in  a  hopefully  thorough  manner  in   Boston. 


lo  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

Gentlemen,  I  hold  in  my  hands  a  statement  communi- 
cated to  me  officially,  and  I  am  able  to  assure  you 
that  2000  persons  are  now  devoting  a  large  part  of 
their  time  in  this  city  to  religious  visitation  among  the 
poor.     In  no  other  population  has  there  been  a  more 
effective  arrangement  for  visitation  than  here.    God  be 
thanked  that  every  lane  is  to  be  seen,  and  that  super- 
fluity and  squalor  are  to  look  into  each  other's  eyes ! 
Of  no  evangelical  churches  in  this  city,  ninety  have 
already  signified  their  intention  to  co-operate  in  this 
work.     Each  pastor  of  these  ninety  churches  has  ap- 
pointed gentlemen  to  oversee  the  work  undertaken  by 
his  particular  church  ;  for  instance,  on  Beacon  Hill  yon- 
der, in  the  Mount  Vernon  church,  where  our  Ameri- 
can evangelist  heard  the  truth  effectively  for  the  first 
time  from  the  lips  of  the  now  sainted  Kirk,  men  like 
Nazro  and  Merriam  are  appointed  on  this  business.    Is 
there  any  one   with  head  or  heart  shallow  enough  to 
sneer  at  such  proceedings  ?     You  will  sneer,  then,  at 
the  best  executive  talent  of  Boston.    There  are  70,000 
families  within  the  limits  of  Boston,  and  there  have  been 
workers  appointed  to  cover  65,000  of  these  families. 
In  Boston  I  include  Charlestown,  East  Boston,  South 
Boston,  Dorchester,  Roxbury  and  Brighton.     We  are 
to  look  on  this  work  as  performed  by  picked  men  and 
women.     There  is  no  quarter  of  this  city  so  degraded 
by  unreportable  vice  that  it  is  not  "being  visited  by 
women,  lineal  descendants,  no  doubt,  of  those  whom 
Tacitus  says  our  German  forefathers  honored  as  recipi- 
ents of  special  illumination  from  heaven.     The  saloons 
are  being  visited,  and  the  report  now  coming  in  is  that 
the   visitors   are  kindly   received,   and  you   will  find 
every  now  and  then  a  visitor  saying:   **  There  are  in 


I 


EVANGELISM  IN  BOSTON.  U 

my  district  fifteen  cases  of  interest,  or  persons  seri- 
ously inquiring  how  they  can  get  rid  of  vice  and  enter 
upon  a  manly  or  womanly  life  :  and  I  am  to  follow 
these  cases  up."  Remember  that  this  work  of  visita- 
tion is  intended  not  merely  for  those  who  are  outside 
the  circle  of  glad  loyalty  to  religious  truth,  but  for 
those  who  are  nominally  inside  of  that  circle,  and  are 
yet  inefficient.  Nothing  quickens  a  man  like  trying  to 
quicken  another.  If  there  is  one  measure  in  which 
our  American  evangelist  has  shown  his  generalship 
more  effectively  than  anywhere  else,  it  is  in  setting 
men  to  work,  and  in  so  setting  them  to  work  as  to  set 
them  on  fire. 

But,  gentlemen,  what  are  we  to  say  of  the  prayer- 
meetings  among  business  men,  which  have  not  yet 
attained  their  height,  and  yet  are  already  visible  at  a 
distance  ?  It  is  my  privilege  and  joy  to  be  a  flying 
scout  in  New  England.  One  morning  last  week  I 
woke  up  to  the  sound  of  the  swollen  and  impetuous 
Androscoggin,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  passed 
through  Portland,  and  Portsmouth,  and  Newburyport, 
and  Salem,  and  Boston,  and  Worcester,  and  Spring- 
field to  Hartford,  and  all  along  I  had  evidence  by 
conversation  and  by  looking  at  the  local  papers,  that 
these  business  men's  meetings  are  visible  on  the  An- 
droscoggin and  on  the  Connecticut.  You  have  in  this 
Temple  a  very  interesting  meeting,  which  was  never 
matched  for  weight  in  Edinburg.  There  are  crowded 
prayer-meetings  at  high  noon  for  men  engaged  in 
the  dry-goods  business,  for  men  in  the  furniture  trade, 
for  men  in  the  market,  for  men  in  the  fish  trade,  for 
newspaper  men,  for  all  classes  indeed  of  our  throb- 
bing,   tumultuous,    breathless    business    community. 


12  TO  ALL   PEOPLE, 

This,  if  you  will  notice  the  fact,  is  Boston.  When  I 
stated  on  this  platform  a  few  weeks  ago  that  you 
would  see  Boston  visited  as  you  had  seen  other  cities 
visited,  you  did  not  receive  the  affirmation  with  a 
smile  of  incredulity,  but  the  public  did.  That  poor 
■prophecy  has  been  fulfilled,  and  we  have  a  month  more 
for  zvork. 

If  you  please,  the  times  are  serious,  and  light  sneers 
will  do  no  good  now,  and  ought  not  to  be  noticed  by 
me  except  in  pity.  It  was  my  fortune  professionally 
to  walk  down  to  a  church  near  the  Tabernacle  yester- 
day morning  to  give  an  Easter  discourse.  As  I  passed 
up  the  street  I  met  a  deluge,  not  of  rain,  such  as  has 
diminished  the  audiences  in  the  Tabernacle  occasion- 
ally— the  month  of  March  is  a  great  enemy  to  large 
assemblies — but  a  crowd  of  people  emerging  from  I 
did  not  at  first  think  where,  until  I  remembered  that 
the  Tabernacle  service  had  just  closed.  They  covered 
acres  and  came  on  in  thousands,  like  the  crowds  of  a 
gala  day.  I  noticed  their  faces,  for  the  best  test  of 
what  has  been  done  in  a  religious  address,  in  any  as- 
sembly, is  to  study  the  countenances  of  the  audience 
as  it  disperses.  If  you  see  a  softened,  an  ennobled,  a 
"solar  look,"  to  use  one  of  the  phrases  of  Bronson 
Alcott  [turning  to  Mr.  Alcott,  who  sat  at  the  speaker's 
right],  one  may  be  sure  that  religious  truth  has  done 
good.  I  saw  the  solar  look  yesterday  on  the  street  in 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  faces  ;  I  saw  it  sometimes 
in  the  gaze  of  shop-girls,  perhaps. 

Yes,  but  high  culture  in  Boston  does  not  care  much 
for  shop-girls.  Well,  it  is  time  it  should.  There  is  a 
low-bred,  loaferish  liberalism,  uttering  itself  occasion- 
ally   in    sneers,    because    the    poor   have    the    gospel 


EVANGELISM  IN  BOSTON.  13 

preached  to  them.  That  sneer  has  been  heard  ever 
since  the  days  of  Celsus  and  the  games  in  the  old 
Cohseum,  and  it  has  a  peculiarly  reptilian  ring.  There 
are  many  kinds  of  liberalism.  Christian  liberalism  I 
honor  ;  literary  and  aesthetic  liberalism  is  to  be  spoken 
of  with  respect,  in  most  cases  ;  but  below  what  I  have 
called  a  limp  and  lavender  and  unscientific  liberalism, 
there  is  a  low-bred  and  loaferish  liberalism.  This  in 
Boston  has  impudence,  but  no  scholarship ;  rattles, 
but  no  fangs.  In  the  great  multitude  the  solar  look 
is  the  best  prophecy  that  can  be  had  for  the  American 
future.  It  is  a  radiance  that  is  like  the  rising  of  the 
sun  to  any  man  who  is  anxious  about  what  is  to  come 
in  America.  After  noticing  that  look,  and  thanking 
God  for  it,  I  walked  on,  and  happened  to  pass  a  lonely 
Boston  corner,  where  the  Paine  Hall  and  the  Parker 
Memorial  Hall  stand  near  each  o\h^x par  nobile  f rat- 
nun.  On  a  bulletin  on  the  Paine  Hall,  the  street  in 
front  of  which  looked  deserted,  I  read:  "Children's 
Progressive  Lyceum  Entertainment  this  evening." 
"The  Origin  and  Amusements  of  the  Orthodox 
Hell."  "  Twenty-ninth  Anniversary  of  Modern 
Spiritualism,  APRIL  I."  Passing  by  the  Parker 
Memorial  Hall,  where,  no  doubt,  words  of  good 
jcnse  have  been  uttered  occasionally,  I  found  in  the 
window  this  statement:  "To-night,  a  Lecture  on 
the  Arctic  Regions,  with  a  stereopticon  and  seventy 
views." 

Gentlemen,  all  over  the  world,  the  equivalent  of  the 
scene  I  saw  on  that  Easter  morn  may  be  looked  upon 
almost  everywhere  within  the  whole  domain  of  Christ- 
endom. Infidelity  in  Germany  is  no  stronger  than  it 
is   in   Boston.      Out  of  the   thirty  universities  of  that 


14 


TO   ALL   PEOPLE. 


most  learned  land  of  the  globe,  only  one  is  called 
rationalistic  to-day. 

When  the  sun  stands  above  Bunker  Hill  at  noon,  it 
has  just  set  on  the  Parthenon  and  is  rising  on  the  vol- 
canoes of  the  Sandwich  Isles.  As  Easter  Day  passed 
about  the  globe,  the  contrasted  scenes  which  the  sun 
saw  here — a  multitude  fed  with  God's  Word  and  a  few 
erratics  striving  to  solace  themselves  without  God — 
were  not  unlike  the  scenes  which  the  resplendent  orb 
looked  down  upon  in  the  whole  range  of  civilization. 
In  200  languages  of  the  world  the  Scriptures  were 
read  yesterday  ;  in  200  languages  of  the  world  hymns 
were  lifted  to  the  Triune  Name  yesterday  ;  in  200  lan- 
guages of  the  world  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  the 
poor  yesterday. 

What  is  our  impecunious  scepticism  doing  here  ? 
Has  it  ever  printed  a  book  that  has  gone  into  a  second 
edition  ?  Theodore  Parker's  works  never  went  into  a 
second  edition.  I  do  not  know  of  a  single  infidel 
book  over  a  hundred  years  old  that  has  not  been  put 
on  the  upper,  neglected  shelf  by  scholars.  Boston 
must  compare  her  achievements  with  those  of  cities 
outside  of  America,  and  take  her  chances  under  the 
buffetings  of  time.  Where  is  there  in  Boston  anything 
in  the  shape  of  scepticism  that  will  bear  the  micro- 
scope ?  For  one,  I  solemnly  aver  that  I  do  not  know 
where,  and  I  have  nothing  else  to  do  but  search. 
Theodore  Parker  is  the  best  sceptic  you  ever  had  ;  but, 
to  me,  he  is  honey-combed  through  and  through  with 
disloyalty  to  the  very  nature  of  things — his  supreme 
authority.  It  was  asserted,  not  long  ago,  in  an  ob- 
scure sceptical  newspaper  here,  that  Parker's  works 
ought  to  be  forced  into  a  second  edition  by  his  friends. 


EVANGELISM  IN  BOSTON. 


15 


It  was  admitted  there  was  no  demand  for  a  second 
edition,  but  it  was  thought  that,  if  now  there  was  an 
effort  made  strategetically,  one  might  be  put  upon  the 
market.  You  have  no  better  books  than  these,  and 
there  has  been  no  marked  demand  in  Boston  for  these, 
and  the  attentive  portion  of  the  world  knows  the  facts. 
Why  am  I  proclaiming  this  ?  Because,  outside  of 
Boston,  it  is  often  carelessly  supposed  that  the  facts 
are  the  reverse,  and  that  this  city  is  represented  only 
by  a  few  people,  who,  deficient  in  religious  activity, 
and  forgetting  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
are  distinguished  far  more  by  audacity  than  by  scholar- 
ship, and  are  members  of  a  long  line  in  history,  of 
which  Gallio  stood  at  the  head. 

Let  me  mention  as  a  fourth  prominent  trait  in  this 
revival  the  great  effort  made  for  temperance.  We 
have  done  more  in  that  particular  than  was  done  in 
Boston  in  Whitefield's  day  ;  for  in  his  time  men  were 
not  awake  on  that  theme.  It  is  a  good  sign  to  see 
the  church  and  secular  effort  join  hands.  It  is  a  good 
sign  when  our  American  evangelist  himself  can  say, 
as  he  said  yesterday,  **  I  have  been  a  professing 
Christian  twenty-two  years,  and  I  have  been  in  Bos- 
ton and  other  cities  for  most  of  that  time,  and  I  never 
saw  such  a  day  as  this  is.  I  stand  in  wonder  and 
amazement  at  what  is  being  done.  It  seems  as  if 
God  were  taking  this  work  out  of  our  hands.  Prayer- 
meetings  are  springing  up  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  If 
you  were  asked  two  months  ago  if  these  things  were 
possible,  you  would  have  said  :  *  Yes,  if  God  will 
open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  do  them.'  " 

Let  us  admit  that  we  could  all  wish  for  greater 
blessings.     Macaulay  said,  concerning  literary  excel- 


1 6  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

lence,  that  we  were  to  measure  success  not  by  abso- 
lute, but  by  relative  standards.  Matching  his  own 
history  against  the  seventh  book  of  Thucydides,  he 
was  always  humble  ;  but  matching  his  history  against 
current  productions,  Macaulay  felt  encouraged. 
Matching  this  day  in  Boston  against  some  things  in 
Whitefield's  day,  matching  it  against  the  dateless 
noon  of  Pentecost,  matching  it  against  our  opportuni- 
ties, we  are  humble  ;  we  have  no  reason  for  elation  ; 
ours  is  a  day  of  small  things.  But  compare  what  has 
been  done  here  by  God's  word  and  religious  effort 
with  all  that  has  been  done  since  Boston  was  founded 
by  the  opponents  of  God's  word,  and  we  are  encour- 
aged. 

Our  opportunity  in  the  second  New  England  is 
greater  than  that  of  our  fathers  was  in  the  first  New 
England.  Let  us  act  as  the  memory  of  our  fathers 
dictates.  New  England,  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the 
Pacific  Coast,  Scotland,  England,  always  know 
whether  or  not  Boston  does  her  duty.  A  power  not 
of  man  is  in  this  hushed  air.  Who  will  lock  hands 
with  Him  whom  we  dare  not  name,  and  go  forward  to 
triumph  in  the  cause  that  cares  equally  for  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  and  for  to-day  and  to-morrow  ? 

[From   the  Monday  Noon  Lecture   in  Tremont  Temple,   April  2d, 
by  permission.] 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

Introduction. — Evangelism  in  Boston,  by  Rev.  Joseph  Cook v 


BIOGRAPHIES. 

Dwight  L.  Moody xix 

Ira  D.  Sanke} xxiii 


SERMONS  AND  LECTURES. 

The  Faith  of  CaleD  and  Joshua,  Mr.  Moody's  first  Sermon  in  Boston..  17 

Christian  Enthusiasm 24 

Saved  or  Lost 29 

The  Holy  Spirit.     Ill 41 

The  Holy  Spirit.     IV 54 

Sermons  to  Christian  Workers 62 

Perseverance . , 158 

The  Life  and  Character  of  Jacob 253 

The  Life  and  Cliaracter  of  Joshua 266 

The  Life  and  Character  of  Peter 279 

Sowing  and  Reaping 296 

The  Life  and  Character  of  Ahab 303 

Covetousness 3^9 

What  will  you  do  with  Christ  ? 315 

God's  Love  for  Sinners 322 

Christ  in  the  Old  Testament 349 

Christ  in  the  New  Testament 361 

Christ  as  a  Shepherd 375 

The  Blessed  Gospel 3S3 

Christ  the  Deliverer.      II 3'.13 

Blind-Eyes 4°/ 

The  New  Birth 414 

God's  Instrumentalities 429 

-John  the  Baptist 45° 

Salvation 4^5 

The  Second  Coming  of  Christ 499 


BIBLE  READINGS. 

The  Divinity  of  Christ,  I. ,  ist  Chapter  John 191 

The  Miracles  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  2d      "  197 

The  Remedy  for  Sin,  3d  "  203 

Christ  the  Water  of  Life,  4th  "  207 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

pac;h 

Christ  the  Physician,  sth  Chapter  John 213 

Christ  the  Bread  of  Life,  6th  "  218 

Christ  the  Fountain  of  Living  Water,  7th  Chapter  John 222 

Christ,  His  Divinity,  IL,  Sth  Chapter  John 226 

Christ  Restoring  the  BHnd,  9th  "  231 

Christ  the  Good  Shepherd,  loth  "  * 237 

Christ,  His  Divinity,  in.,  nth  " 241 

The  Miracle  of  Peter 335 

Working  for  Christ, '.  * '.  '.".'.*.    3J9 

Confession  the  Key  to  Salvation 446 

One  Thing  Thou  lackest 442 

Freedom  for  the  Captive 477 


CONVENTION  TALKS. 

How  can  Non-church-goers  be  reached  ? 168 

How  can  the  Churches  be  revived  ?  Questions  answered  by  Mr.  Moody.  173 
How  to  make  Prayer  Meetings  interesting  ?    Questions  answered  by 

Mr,  Moody 187 


TEMPERANCE  ADDRESSES. 

Intemperance,  the  Work  of  the  Devil 136 

The  Prayer  of  Faith 141 

He  forgiveth  our  Iniquities 144 

Casting  out  the  Unclean  Spirit 149 

Coming  to  Christ 155 

To  Reformed  Men 487 


PRAYER-MEETING  TALKS. 

David's  Prayer,  His  Confession 76 

David's  Prayer,  Search  Me  and  Know  Me 82 

Daniel's  Prayer,  His  Confession 88 

Confessing  our  Sins 95 

Unholy  Ambition 102 

'  Nothing  too  hard  for  God 108 

Casting  out  Devils in 

The  Power  of  Prayer 117 

Forgiveness 122 

Thanksgiving 128 

Address  to  Children 131 

Sudden  Conversions 246 

Five  Christian  Requisites 343 

Prayer 34^ 

Ittai's  Friendship  for  David 427 

The  Parable  of  the  Sower 481 

The  Thirty-Second  Psalm     ,* 484 


PRAYERS. 

Prayer  on  the  Death  of  Mrs.  Kitti-idge 133 

Prayer  for  Infidels  and  Scoffers 252 

Prayer  for  the  Christian  Convention 2'-<9 

Prayer  for  Humility 4^3 


A   BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

The  name  most  prominently  associated  with  Mr. 
Moody's  in  evangelistic  work,  is  that  of  Ira  David 
Sankey. 

He  is  the  acknowledged  Asaph,  the  sweet  Singer, 
"Set  over  the  service  of  Song  in  the  house  of  Israel." 

Ira  D.  Sankey  was  born  in  Edenburgh,  Lawrence 
County,  Pennsylvania,  August  28th,  1840. 

His  parents  were  highly  esteemed  in  the  commu- 
nity for  their  social  qualities  and  noble  traits  of  char- 
acter. His  father  was  a  man  of  social  and  political 
prominence,  and  was  often  honored  with  offices  of 
political  trust  and  responsibility.  Young  Ira  was 
noted  for  his  vivacious  and  sprightly  spirit,  and  was  a 
universal  favorite  with  his  young  companions.  His 
pleasant,  winning  ways  and  his  playful  humor,  com- 
bined with  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  manly  self- 
reliance,  attracted  others  to  him  and  enabled  him  to 
wield  a  strong  influence  over  them.  His  early  years 
at  school  were  not  idled  away,  but  spent  in  close  and 
patient  application  to  study.  Inspired  by  a  purpose 
to  succeed  he  became  an  excellent  student,  and  soon 
acquired  the  elements  of  a  practical  and  useful  educa- 
tion. He  was  converted,  and  joined  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  in  early  life.     Here  he  found  an 


>xiv  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

excellent  opportunity  for  the  employment  of  his  mu- 
sical powers,  as  no  Church  is  more  devoted  to  sacred 
Song  and  more  appreciative  of  its  beauty  and  power. 
He  at  once  entered  the  Sunday  School,  and  teachers 
and  scholars  alike,  were  charmed  by  the  sweet  strains 
of  his  captivating  song. 

He  sang  with  so  much  naturalness,  fervor  and 
sweetness,  that  all  hearts  seemed  to  thrill  with  a  new 
inspiration  and  felt  that  a  brighter  era  had  dawned 
upon  the  school.  During  our  civil  war,  he  was  in  the 
army  for  a  brief  period,  and  on  many  occasions, 
inspired  the  desponding  and  cheered  the  sorrowing 
and  dying  soldier,  with  the  soft,  sweet  strains  of  some 
new  song,  or  of  some  precious  melody  of  other  days. 
From  1862  to  1871,  Mr.  Sankey  was  connected  with 
the  internal  revenue  service,  and  was  noted  for  his 
careful  attention  to  his  duties,  and  enjoyed  the  entire 
confidence  of  his  superior  officers  and  also  of  the 
people. 

Mr.  Sankey's  first  interview  with  Mr.  Moody  oc 
curred  at  the  International  Convention  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  at  Indianapolis,  in  June, 
1870.  Mr.  Moody  had  heard  the  sweet  singer's  voice 
in  the  convention,  and,  impressed  with  its  marvellous 
power,  at  once  resolved  to  enlist  it  in  his  great  work. 
After  a  formal  introduction,  Mr.  Moody  said  to  him  : 
"  I  want  you."  "  What  for  t "  said  Mr.  Sankey.  "  To 
help  me  in  my  work,"  was  the  reply.     "  But  I  cannot 


A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  xxv 

leave  my  business,"  was  the  response.  "  You  must," 
said  Mr.  Moody.  "  You  must  give  up  your  business, 
and  come  with  me.  I  have  been  looking  for  you  these 
eight  years." 

Thus  suddenly  was  this  world-renowned  Singer 
called  to  join  the  most  efficient  evangelist  of  modern 
times.  Men  sometimes  mistake  their  calling,  and  thus 
seriously  impair  both  their  usefulness  and  happiness  ; 
but  Mr.  Sankey  with  a  wise  and  prayerful  discrimina- 
tion has  selected  a  proper  sphere  of  Christian  activity. 
The  public  are  growing  every  day,  more  and  more 
famJliar  with  his  sweet  voice  and  charming  melodies, 
and  yet  there  is  no  apparent  loss  of  interest  in  either 
the  Singer  or  his  song.  The  history  of  his  work  with 
Mr.  Moody  in  Europe,  Brooklyn,  in  Philadelphia,  in 
New  York,  in  Chicago,  and  Boston,  is  too  recent  to 
need  extended  notice  in  this  brief  sketch. 

He  entered  upon  his  work  at  Boston,  with  a  world- 
wide reputation,  and  yet  has  fully  sustained  that  reputa- 
tion and  ever  added  new  lustre  to  his  name  asan  evanofe- 
list  of  song.  The  services  in  the  Tabernacle  owe  much 
of  their  interest  and  success  to  the  inspiration  of  his 
sweet  songs,  and  long  after  the  massive  building  shall 
have  crumbled  into  dust  its  echoes  of  song  will  live  in 
the  memories  of  those  who  worshipped  within  its  walls. 
The  almost  universal  conviction  is  that  Mr.  Sankey,  is  as 
necessary  to  the  great  evangelistic  work  as  Mr.  Moody 
himself.  Both  are  divinely  accredited  heralds  of  the 
Cross — one  heralding  in  simple,  lucid  language  the 
Gospel  of  Great  Joy,  and  the  other  enunciating  the 
Glad  Tidings  in  sweet,  triumphant  strains  of  Christian 
Sons:. 


THE    SONG    THE    ANGELS    SUNG 

ANNOUNCING  THE  BIRTH  OF  CHRIST. 


Behold  !   I  bring  you   Glad  Tidings  of  Great  Joy,  which  shall  be 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE." 


(Luke  2-ia) 


TO   ALL    PEOPLE. 


THE   FAITH   OF   CALEB   AND   JOSHUA. 

MR.  Moody's  first  sermon  in  boston. 


'  You  will  find  my  text  this  afternoon  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Numbers,  and  part  of  the  thirtieth  verse  :  "  Let 
us  go  up  at  once,  and  possess  it ;  for  we  are  well  able  to 
overcome  it."  Let  us  go  up  at  once.  Caleb  and  Joshua 
are  great  favorites  of  mine.  They  have  got  a  ring  about 
them.  They  v/ere  not  all  the  time  looking  at  the  hin- 
drances and  obstacles  in  their  way ;  they  got  their  eyes 
above  them.  Now  if  we  can  only  get  a  few  hundreds  of 
Calebs  and  Joshuas  here  in  Boston  with  eyes  lifted  above 
objections  and  obstacles,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  about 
the  success  of  this  movement.  Quite  a  number  have 
asked  me  what  I  want  for  success  here.  I  want  to  tell 
5^ou  what  I  want.  I  want  men  of  faith,  men  and  wo- 
men who  have  confidence  in  God.  That  is  all  I  want. 
I  have  no  doubt  about  success  then.  It  is  these  men  that 
are  all  the  time  predicting  defeat  that  we  don't  want. 
They  can't  help  us.  The  questions  are  now  being  raised 
all  over  New  England  "  Are  we  going  to  have  a  revival  ? " 
"  Is  God  going  to  revive  His  church .?  "  "  Is  there  going  to 
be  a  quickening  among  the  people  of  God,"  for  that  is  really 
where  revivals  begin.     They  begin  with  God's  own  people. 

2  '  17 


1 8  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

When  these  hundreds  of  Christian  men  are  quickened  ; 
when  these  churches,  that  is,  the  rank  and  file  of  God,  are 
quickened,  then  my  friends  you  will  see  how  quick  results 
are  brought  about.  The  only  obstacle  to  a  great  work  is 
unbelief. 

People  talk  about  the  opposition  and  objections  crea- 
ted by  infidelity.  You  may  take  all  the  infidelity  and 
all  the  false  "  isms "  extant,  but  the  greatest  harm  has 
come  from  lukewarmness  and  unbelief  in  the  Church  of 
God.  Infidels  cannot  help  God  from  working.  God 
can  work  in  spite  of  all  the  infidels  in  Boston, — in  spite 
of  all  the  devils  in  hell.  They  cannot  hinder  His  work. 
But  it  is  unbelief  that  is  the  great  obstacle,  and  the 
one  we  want  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Bury  it  so  that  it 
may  have  no  resurrection.  I  heartily  wish  we  could  begin 
with  the  same  degree  of  Christian  faith  in  which  we 
have  just  left  some  of  those  cities  we  have  visited.  For 
instance,  in  Boston,  with  the  same  amount  of  faith  and 
Christian  zeal  we  have  now  exhibited  in  Chicago,  we  would 
progress  more  rapidly.  But,  somehow,  we  have  to  begin 
all  over  again  and  just  keep  battering  away  at  this  very 
unbelief.  I  remember  when  leaving  Scotland  I  was  told  I 
couldn't  expect  much  in  Ireland  whither  I  was  going ;  that 
the  Irish  were  peculiar;  they  could  expect  for  work  in 
Scotland  because  the  people  understood  their  Bibles,  and 
all  they  had  to  do  was  to  sing  and  preach  the  gospel  ;  but 
I  found  unbelief  my  difficulty  there.  I  found  just  the 
same  thing  in  Ireland,  just  the  same  old  human  nature. 
The  same  power  of  God  was  needed  in  Scotland,  and  we 
found  the  same  hard  work  of  surmounting  unbelief  in 
Ireland.  When  we  left  Ireland  to  go  to  England,  and  es- 
pecially Liverpool,  where  there  are  a  great  many  drink- 
ing saloons,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  opposition  and 
unbelief.  But  the  Spirit  of  God  worked  in  Liverpool. 
When  we  went  to  London   it  was  said  we    should   cer- 


FAITH.  ig 

tainly  have  defeat  there.  And  starting  from  there  for 
this  country  we  were  not  to  expect  results  here  because  you 
had  singing  and  preaching  here.  But  we  found  in  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York  the  gospel  had  effect  upon  the 
people.  When  we  left  for  Chicago  this  fall  it  was  said  we 
would  surely  be  successful  there,  and  when  we  got  there 
we  found  Christian  men  and  women  we  had  worked  with 
for  years  who  did  not  believe  we  would  be  successful  be- 
cause Chicago  was  a  peculiar  city.  When  we  came  to 
Boston  some  people  told  me,  "  Mr.  Moody  we  must  give 
you  a  little  warning  ;  you  must  remember  that  Boston  is  a 
peculiar  place,  and  you  cannot  expect  to  do  the  same 
as  elsewhere ;  there  are  a  great  many  obstacles."  It 
is  the  same  old  story,  the  same  old  human  nature. 
Boston  is  the  same  as  these  other  places.  They  are  all 
alike,  but  the  enemy  cannot  hinder  God  from  w^orking 
if  we  only  have  faith.  With  God  all  things  are  possible. 
This  terrible  unbelief  God  can  shake  in  Boston  as  easy  as 
a  mother  can  shake  her  little  child.  We  can  do  all  things 
through  His  power  and  strength.  We' are  not  able  to  do 
anything  of  our  own  power,  but  with  God's  strength  we 
can,  by  faith,  bring  down  a  blessing  on  Boston  and  all 
New  England.  By  God's  help  we  can  have  a  revival.  Are 
we  not  able  to  rest  upon  God's  promises  and  trust  Him 
implicitly  ?  You  remember  how  those  men  were  sent  out 
to  spy  out  the  land  of  Canaan.  They  had  been  sent  out 
forty  days  to  go  over  that  land.  They  went  from  the  wil- 
derness of  Zin  to  Rehob,  thence  unto  Hebron.  And  when 
they  reached  the  "  brook  of  Eshcol  they  secured  a  branch 
with  one  cluster  of  grapes,  and  bare  it  between  two  upon 
a  staff  ;  and  they  brought  of  the  pomegranates  and  of  the 
figs."  They  were  gone  forty  days,  and  the  twelve  men 
brought  what  Congress  would  call  a  minority  and  a  major- 
ity report.  Ten  men  reported  that  they  had  gone  unto 
the  land  to  which  they  were  sent,  and  surely  it  flowed  with 


20  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

milk  and  honey.  And  so  God's  word  was  true.  They 
found  milk  and  honey.  And  they  brought  along  grapes. 
But  ten  of  them  were  full  of  unbelief.  But  they  further  re- 
ported that  they  saw  giants  there,  the  sons  of  Anak  which 
come  of  the  giants.  The  Hittites,  Jebusites,  Amalekites 
and  Amorities  dwelt  there.  They  were  all  there,  and  also 
these  great  giants  in  whose  sight  they  were  as  grasshoppers. 
It  was  a  great  war  city,  and  they  asked  themselves  if  they 
looked  as  though  they  were  able  to  war  with  such  giants. 
They  said  we  are  not  able.  They  undoubtedly  brought 
back  maps  and  charts  and  said  "  there  is  the  region  ;  it 
would  be  monstrous  for  us  to  take  it ;  there  are  great  iron 
gates  and  a  great  wall,  and  we  are  not  able  to  take  it.  We 
are  defenceless  people  without  any  weapons ;  we  will  not 
be  able  to  overcome  those  people."  I  can  imagine  one 
man  said:  "Why,  I  looked  up  at  those  giants  and  I 
looked  like  a  little  grasshopper,  and  felt  as  small  as  a 
grasshopper.  We  cannot  hope  to  cope  with  those  giants. 
It  is  a  good  land,  but  we  will  not  be  able  to  go  up  and 
possess  it."  Then*  they  begin  to  murmur.  It  don't  take 
a  great  while  to  get  unbelievers  to  murmur.  Caleb 
tried  to  encourage  them.  He  says  :  "  Let  us  go  up  at 
once  and  possess  it ;  we  are  well  able  to  overcome  it." 
Even  Joshua  joined  in  with  Caleb  and  they  proved  two 
with  the  faith.  To  be  sure,  they  were  in  the  minority,  but 
if  the  Lord  is  with  us  we  are  able  to  prove  a  powerful 
majority  over  the  enemy.  They  determined  to  take  it, 
and  they  wandered  across  all  through  Canaan,  but  the 
people  took  up  stones,  and  would  have  stoned  them  to 
death.  But  "  the  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  congregation  before  all  the  children  of  Israel." 
And  about  three  million  of  people  wandered  in  the  wilder- 
ness for  forty  years,  until  all  the  men  laid  themselves  down 
in  the  desert  grave  and  were  kept  out  of  the  promised 
land,  all  on  account  of  their  unbelief.     And  I  believe  to- 


FAITH.  21 

day  that  four-fifths  of  the  church  is  wandering  aiound  in 
the  wilderness,  away  from  the  cross  of  Calvary  and  the 
promised  land.  We  are  able  to  have  victory  with  God 
with  us.  The  great  trouble  and  matter  with  the  church  is 
that  it  is  all  the  time  looking  at  the  obstacles,  and  I  have 
yet  to  find  successful  men  and  women  in  God's  service 
that  are  looking  at  the  obstacles.  Ten  men  were  looking 
at  all  these  obstacles  that  this  new  land  presented  to  them, 
while  these  two  men,  Caleb  and  Joshua,  looked  up  yonder, 
and  they  saw  God's  face  and  remembered  the  waste  in 
Egypt,  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  destruction  that 
was  brought  upon  the  Philistines,  the  water  from  the  flint 
rock,  and  they  believed  that  God  was  able,  as  He  certainly 
was,  to  give  them  that  land  He  had  promised.  Let  us  all 
remember  what  God  has  done  \  how,  in  all  the  ages  of  the 
Church,  He  has  revived  it  when  the  people  came  together 
and  asked  Him  for  a  blessing,  being  of  one  mind  and  one 
spirit,  and  there  has  been  Christian  prayers  and  exhorta- 
tions going  up  from  the  land.  Let  us  not  forget  that  all 
strength  and  help  has  come  from  on  high.  Not  from  our- 
selves will  the  power  come,  but  God,  like  in  the  case  of 
Caleb  and  Joshua,  can  revive  His  work  in  this  city  in 
answer  to  our  united  prayers.  And  if  we  only  have  faith 
to  go  on  expecting,  we  will  not  be  disappointed.  But  if 
you  find  a  man  that  is  all  the  time  looking  on  the  dark 
side,  full  of  fear  and  doubts,  and  all  the  time  discouraging 
people  around  him,  he  is  not  the  man  that  God  can  reach. 
He  wants  to  have  faith  in  His  work,  in  His  promises,  and 
then  move  forward  and  see  how  promptly  He  extends  His 
Divine  aid  and  gives  victory.  Just  turn  over  to  the  days 
of  Gideon,  and  you  will  find  there  a  most  wonderful  lesson, 
and  probably  such  a  lesson  as  we  ought  to  learn  here  in 
Boston.  There  may  be  a  class  of  people  believing  that  as 
we  have  got  this  beautiful  building,  good  choir  and  so 
many  ministers  that  we   are  going  to  have  a  work  right 


22  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

away.  Now  if  we  lean  upon  anything  but  the  arm  of  God 
we  will  be  disappointed.  You  must  pass  through  the 
valley  before  you  reach  the  mountain ;  be  humbled  and 
cast  down  before  you  are  lifted  up.  If  we  lean  upon  our- 
selves we  will  have  failure,  but  if  we  lean  upon  the  arm  of 
God  and  not  upon  prayers,  we  will  see  how  quick  God  will 
give  us  victory.  God  wants  the  glory,  and  no  flesh  shall 
glory  in  His  stead  ;  and  let  us  not  forget  to  sink  self  out 
of  sight.  Look  at  what  He  said  to  Gideon.  Gideon  called 
in  an  army  of  thirty-two  thousand,  and  the  Lord  said  to 
him,  you  have  too  many  men.  If  I  give  you  victory 
"  Israel  will  vaunt  themselves  against  Me,  saying  my 
own  hand  hath  saved  me."  You  cannot  work  with  so 
many,  because  I  must  have  the  glory.  Just  say  to  all 
them  that  are  fearful  to  depart  if  they  want  to.  "  So 
Gideon  proclaimed,"  in  accordance  with  God's  command, 
saying :  "  Whosoever  is  fearful  and  afraid  let  him  return 
and  depart  early  from  Mount  Gilead.  And  there  returned 
of  the  people  twenty  and  two  thousand  ;  and  there  re- 
mained ten  thousand."  I  can  imagine  that  Gideon  got  a 
little  scared  at  first.  Only  ten  thousand  left.  But  the 
Lord  came  again  and  said  :  "  Gideon,  you  have  got  too 
many  men  ;  if  I  work  with  them  you  will  take  the  glory." 
"  So  he  brought  down  the  people  unto  the  water  :  and  the 
Lord  said  unto  Gideon,  every  one  that  lappeth  of  the 
water  with  his  tongue,  as  a  dog  lappeth,  him  shalt  thou 
set  by  himself  ;  likewise  everyone  that  boweth  down  upon 
his  knees  to  drink."  Three  hundred  lapped  and  ninety- 
seven  hundred  wheeled  out  of  line.  I  can  imagine  they 
were  a  good  deal  like  many  Christians  in  Boston.  What 
can  God  do  with  those  who  are  like  those  of  Gideon's 
army  who  were  full  of  fears  and  doubts  .'*  Look  at  the 
reduction  in  that  great  army.  But  only  three  hundred 
men  with  the  Almighty  is  all  we  want  in  Boston.  Three 
hundred  men  that  side  with  God  can  be  a  power  for  God. 


FAITH. 


23 


Three  hundred  like  Gideon's  men  will  move  this  city. 
What  a  routing  there  was  before  that  band  !  They  fly  like 
chaff  before  the  wind.  Don't  you  call  anything  small  of 
God.  If  God  is  in  this  movement  we  will  have  victory, 
but  if  it  is  simply  man's  movement,  without  God's  aid, 
there  will  be  failure,  and  the  ministers,  singers  and  this 
great  Tabernacle  would  become  the  laughing-stock  of  New 
England,  if  not  of  Christendom.  But  with  the  mighty  arm 
of  God  to  lean  upon  we  will  see  wonderful  results.  I  be- 
lieve we  are  living  in  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man.  I 
never  spent  such  seasons  of  religious  joy  as  during  the 
last  t  venty  or  thirty  days.  Faithless  husbands  and  wives 
have  been  reclaimed.  Mothers,  fathers,  who  have  been 
clear  down  in  the  gutter,  sunken  almost  as  low  as  the 
brute  creation,  have  been  rescued,  and  are  now  preaching 
and  singing  the  power  of  God  to  save,  going  into  saloons 
and  billiard  halls  after  the  wanderers.  You  can  hear  the 
tramp  of  ^he  drunkards  of  Boston.  It  seems  as  if  the 
power  of  God  was  in  this  building  this  afternoon.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  our  prayers  will  be  answered  and  these 
mothers  find  Uieir  wayward  children.  We  are  going  to 
see  them  brought  home.  Let  us  have  faith.  Let  us  go 
up  and  possess  Uie  land.  In  the  name  of  God  let  there 
be  no  adverse  criticism,  no  looking  at  difficulties.  Let  us 
come  praying  to  Gid  to  move  this  city,  and  may  there  go 
up  the  great  cry  from  Boston  of  "  What  shall  we  do  to  be 
saved  ? " 


CHRISTIAN  ENTHUSIASM 


You  that  were  here  on  Sunday  night  will  remember 
that  I  was  talking  about  courage,  a  necessary  qualifica- 
tion to  work  for  the  Lord.  To-night  I  want  to  talk  on 
another  word  that  I  think  is  very  important,  and  that  is — 
enthusiasm.  You  are  a  little  afraid  of  it  down  here  in 
New  England,  but  it  won't  hurt  you  to  have  a  little  more. 
I  know  there  are  a  great  many  very  wise  men  shaking 
their  heads,  they  are  afraid  of  a  movement  of  this  kind. 
They  already  begin  to  cry,  "  Undue  excitement !  "  "Large 
meetings  !  "  It  is  astonishing  to  hear  some  people  talk. 
When  their  meetings  are  very  small  then  they  are  mourn- 
ing for  the  smallness,  and  when  the  spirit  of  God  does 
come  and  the  people  have  ears  to  hear,  and  great  crowds 
do  come,  then  they  shake  their  heads  and  say,  "  Ah,  we 
are  afraid  of  these  great  crowds  ;  now,  wt  must  be  very 
careful."  We  hear  no  complaint  about  the  politicians. 
They  wake  up  a  good  deal  of  enthusiasir.  I  happened  to 
be  here  when  they  took  Anthony  Burns  out  of  Boston,  and 
I  never  saw  a  city  so  moved.  Talk  about  enthusiasm  ; 
every  man  was  full  of  it.  But  just  tlie  moment  we  talk 
about  getting  a  little  feeling  into  the  churches  and  a  little 
enthusiasm  into  the  Lord's  work,  a  good  many  shake  their 
gray  heads  and  say,  "  I  am  afraid."  Now,  be  careful  how 
you  jump  on  to  the  safety  valve  to  keep  down  the  steam. 
I  have  yet  to  find  a  man  that  didni  succeed  in  his  ministry 
if  he  had  enthusiasm  about  him.  I  have  yet  to  find  the 
successful  Sunday  School  teacher  that  didn't  take  up  the 
work  of  God  with  enthusiasm.    For  years  I  was  Superin- 


CHRISTIAN  ENTHUSIASM. 


25 


tendent  of  a  Sunday  School  in  Chicago  and  I  learned  one 
thing,  that  any  man  or  woman  who  ever  took  hold  of  a 
class  without  some  enthusiasm,  didn't  succeed.  You  will 
find  that  every  business  man  in  Boston  gets  enthusiastic  in 
his  business  if  he  succeeds.  All  men  who  succeed  have 
enthusiasm.  I  believe  that  Joshua  and  Caleb  were  called 
enthusiasts  after  they  came  back  from  viewing  the  land. 
I  believe  that  this  man  Gideon  was  called  an  enthusiast  in 
the  camp  of  Israel.  The  idea  of  his  going  out  to  meet  a 
hundred  thousand  men  with  pitchers  and  lanterns  !  How 
many  people  there  are  in  Boston  who  would  have  said, 
"  The  man  has  gone  clean  mad."  Yes,  he  was  an  enthusiast, 
but  the  Lord  God  was  with  him  ;  and  what  we  want  is  this 
godly  enthusiasm,  and  then  there  will  be  holy  fire,  and  if 
we  get  this  into  our  hearts  then  we  shall  see  the  work  of 
God  advance.  Some  one  has  said  to  me,  "  When  are  you 
going  to  preach  to  the  unconverted?  "  Well,  I  don't  know 
that  I  shall  preach  to  them  at  all.  I  will  get  you  to  preach 
to  them.  We  want  five  or  six  or  seven  thousand  sermons 
preached  to  ihe  unconverted  every  day.  We  want  thou- 
sands of  men  and  women  going  out  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
cross.  It  is  very  easy  when  we  get  enthusiasm  and  are 
full  of  love  for  God  and  His  work.  A  great  many  will 
cry  out,  "  He  has  zeal  without  knowledge."  I  would  a 
good  deal  rather  have  zeal  without  knowledge  than  knowl- 
edge without  zeal.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  knowledge 
without  zeal  here  in  Boston,  and  if  we  are  enthusiasts  for 
Christ  as  we  ought  to  be  there  will  be  some  who  will  call 
us  fanatics  and  say  we  are  mad.  I  don't  believe  a  man  is 
worth  much  for  Christ  until  he  is  mad.  And  when  we 
hear  that  cry  raised  it  is  a  sure  sign  we  are  getting  into 
the  footsteps  of  the  Master.  They  said  He  had  got  beside 
Himself,  if  you  remember,  and  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
they  said  they  were  full  of  new  wine.  And  when  Paul 
stood  before  Festus,  Festus  said  to  him,  "  much  learning 


26  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

doth  make  thee  mad  ; "  and  Paul  said,  "  No,  most  noble 
Festus,  I  am  not  mad."  The  spirit  of  God  had  moved  on 
his  heart  and  he  was  full  of  godly  enthusiasm. 

There  is  a  man  that  I  admire  very  much.  I  don't 
know  that  I  admire  his  judgment.  That  is  Garibaldi ; 
and  I  am  no  Italian  either.  But  I  admire  that  man. 
When  he  w^as  going  to  Rome  they  took  him  captive 
and  threw  him  into  prison.  And  he  wrote  to  the  people 
outside,  this  :  "  If  fifty  Garibaldis  be  thrown  into  prison, 
let  Rome  be  free."  That's  enthusiasm.  He  didn't  care 
anything  about  Garibaldi,  it  was  the  cause  he  was  looking 
at.  And  when  the  cause  of  Christ  sinks  deep  into  our 
hearts,  and  we  want  only  to  see  Christ  exalted  and  to  save 
a  perishing  world,  then  the  church  will  have  power  and  all 
the  hosts  of  death  and  hell  cannot  stand  before  it.  (Cries 
of  Amen !  Amen  !)  Well,  my  friends,  the  question  is,  have 
you  got  it  ?  Have  you  got  enthusiasm  for  Christ  ?  Has  the 
spirit  of  God  moved  on  your  heart  yet }  Are  you  ready  to 
be  called  a  fool  for  Christ's  sake  "i  Are  you  ready  to  be 
called  beside  yourself .''  Are  you  ready  to  hear  the  scoffs 
and  jeers  of  the  world  for  Christ's  sake  .?  A  man  once  said 
to  an  enthusiast  for  Christ  that  he  was  mad.  "  Well,"  he 
said,  "  I  have  got  a  good  asylum  to  go  to  and  a  good  keep- 
er on  the  way  !  "  Remember,  my  friends,  God  cannot  use 
you  until  you  are  willing  to  have  the  world  point  the  finger 
of  scorn  at  you.  If  the  world  hasn't  got  anything  to  say 
against  us  it  is  pretty  sure  that  Christ  won't  have  mucn  to 
say  for  us.  Because,  if  we  love  God  in  Jesus  Christ  we 
shall  surely  suffer  persecution,  and  if  we  are  afraid  of  our 
dignity,  and  reputation,  and  standing,  we  are  not  fit  for 
Christ's  service.  Somebody  spoke  once  to  a  young  convert 
who  got  up  in  the  streets  and  tried  to  preach,  and  said, 
"You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself."  "Well,"  he  said, 
*'  I  am,  but  I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  Saviour."  So  let  us  be 
ashamed  of  ourselves,  but  not  of  Christ,  but  speak  out  in 


CHRIS TIAN  ENTHUSIASM.  2  7 

our  business  and  in  our  homes,  ever3^\vhere  where  we  are 
for  Christ.  This  is  the  way  to  have  a  true  revival — work 
for  Christ,  talk  for  Christ,  speak  to  those  who  are  about 
you,  and  don't  you  see  that  if  this  whole  audience  here 
was  full  of  holy  enthusiasm,  Boston  would  feel  our  influ- 
ence within  twenty-four  hours  ?  "  One  shall  chase  a  thou- 
sand and  two  shall  put  ten  thousand  to  flight."  There  is 
a  story  told  of  a  man  back  in  the  ninth  century,  I  think, 
that  he  came  up  with  a  little  handful  of  men  to  attack  a 
king  with  a  large  army  ;  and  when  the  king  heard  that  he 
hadn't  but  500  men,  and  he  had  an  army  of  30,000  men,  he 
sent  a  message  to  this  young  general — perhaps  he  thought 
he  was  an  enthusiast  and  was  mad — that  if  he  would  sur- 
render he  would  be  very  merciful  to  him  and  spare  his 
life.  And  the  young  general  heard  the  messenger,  and 
when  he  got  through  he  said  to  one  of  his  privates,  "  Go 
leap  over  into  yonder  chasm,"  and  over  he  went  into  the 
jaws  of  death.  Then  he  called  another  and  handed  him  a 
dagger,  and  said,  "  Take  that  and  drive  it  into  your  heart." 
And  he  drove  it  into  his  heart,  staggered  forward,  and  fell 
dead.  Then  he  turned  to  the  messenger  and  said,  "  Go 
back'  and  tell  your  king  that  I  have  five  hundred  such 
men;  tell  him  we  die,  but  never  surrender."  And  when 
the  king  heard  that  five  hundred  such  men  were  before 
him,  his  army  got  demoralized  and  fled.  The  young  gen- 
eral said  to  the  messenger :  "  Tell  your  king  I  will  have 
him  chained  with  my  dogs  within  twenty-four  hours ;  "  and 
he  did  it.  Ah  !  my  friends,  if  we  are  ready  to  go  and  do 
whatever  the  Master  asks  us,  then  one  shall  chase  a  thou- 
sand, and  two  shall  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  The  trouble 
is,  a  great  many  are  looking  at  the  obstacles  and  the 
army  that  is  against  us.  Those  men  who  are  talking  against 
this  work  cannot  oppose  it  if  we  have  that  spirit,  and  I 
expect  to  see  a  great  many  of  them  converted  themselves 
if  we  get    this   enthusiasm.      Yes,   it  is   enthusiasm    the 


28  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

church  of  God  wants,  and  let  us  pray  for  it,  so  that  we 
may  get  it  and  improve  the  talents  he  has  given  us. 
If  every  man  and  woman  born  into  the  spirit  in  this 
assembly  to-night  should  say,  "By  the  grace  of  God  I  will 
try  to  lead  some  soul  to  Christ  this  week,"  how  many 
would  be  converted  !  Now,  haven't  we  got  that  desire  ? 
Hasn't  that  come  upon  the  hearts  of  this  people?  Or  are 
we  only  ready  to  hear  ?  It  is  very  easy  to  come  here  twice 
a  day,  but  we  want  to  preach  off  these  chairs  \  we  want  to 
get  you  so  full  of  enthusiasm  that  you  must  go  out  and 
preach  Christ ;  must  go  out  of  here  and  call  your  neigh- 
bors together  and  pray  with  them.  It  won't  do  to  have 
all  the  work  done  in  this  Tabernacle,  but  we  must  carry 
it  into  every  street  and  every  alley  and  every  cellar,  and  if 
the  Spirit  of  God  comes  upon  us  we  can  do  it.  Let  us 
put  ujD  one  united  prayer  that  the  Spirit  of  God  may  come 
upon  us,  and  that  there  may  be  a  revival  in  every  church 
in  Boston,  and  that  when  they  stand  up  in  their  pulpits 
next  Sunday  the  Spirit  that  came  ujDon  Joshua  and  Elijah, 
and  Daniel  and  Gideon,  may  come  upon  the  ministry  of 
Boston,  and  then  we  will  have  the  work  we  have  prayed 
for,  and  Christianity  will  be  like  a  red-hot  ball  rolling  over 
the  face  of  the  earth  and  all  the  hosts  of  death  and  hell 
cannot  stop  it.  Have  we  got  the  fire,  or  are  we  still 
asleep?  Some  of  you  think  you  are  awake,  but  really  you 
are  sound  asleep.  If  a  man  has  no  desire  to  go  out  and 
win  some  soul  to  Christ  j  no  desire  to  see  his  own  son 
converted,  or  to  see  his  own  relatives  brought  to  the 
Saviour,  he  is  sound  asleep  spiritually,  isn't  he  ?  What 
we  \vant  to  do  is  to  wake  up  and  get  this  building  filled 
with  non-church-goers.  I  don't  feel  that  I  have  a  mission 
to  come  and  preach  to  you  people  who  have  been  sitting 
here  under  able  ministers  for  twenty  or  thirty  years.  We 
want  you  to  go  out  of  this  building,  and  the  men  who 
haven't  heard  the  gospel  for  twenty,  thirty  or  forty  years 


CHRISTIAN  ENTHUSIASM.  29 

to  come  in.  We  are  not  going  to  do  it  by  advertising  in 
the  papers,  nor  by  notices,  but  by  having  everyone  go  out 
as  a  missionary.  I  would  like  to  see  this  Tabernacle  filled 
with  the  rumsellers  of  Boston.  I  would  like  to  have  the 
fallen  women  come  here,  I  would  like  to  have  them  know 
that  faith  in  Christ  is  power  unto  salvation.  The  devil 
has  deceived  them,  and  they  don't  know  it.  Now,  we 
send  a  lot  of  men  abroad  as  missionaries,  and  God  forbid 
that  I  should  say  one  word  against  missions.  God  bless 
the  missionaries !  I  wish  we  had  thousands  more  going 
round  the  world  for  Christ.  But  don't  let  us  forget  the 
people  at  our  own  doors.  What  are  we  doing  for  them  ? 
Sha'n't  we  have  some  enthusiasm  to  go  and  reach  these 
men  who  are  right  here  by  our  side.  (Cries  of  Amen  ! 
Amen  !)  When  I  was  in  Philadelphia  in  1867,  on  my  way 
to  Europe,  Mr.  George  H.  Stuart  told  me  of  a  meeting  he 
attended  in  Edinburgh  of  the  General  Assembly,  where  an 
old  missionary  who  had  been  in  India  twenty-five  years 
and  had  come  back  to  die,  was  asked  to  plead  for  India. 
They  had  money,  but  couldn't  get  men  to  go  there.  And 
the  old  returned  missionary  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half  and  ■ 
then  he  fainted  away,  and  he  was  carried  out  and  doctors 
called  in.  When  he  came  round  he  said :  "  Where 
am  I  ? "  and  then  he  said,  "  Oh,  I  was  making  my 
l^lea  for  India ;  take  me  back  and  let  me  finish  it." 
The  doctors  told  him  he  must  be  taken  home ;  but 
no,  he  said,  he  must  finish  it.  "  I  must  finish  that  speech 
for  India — they  won't  meet  again  for  twelve  months,  and 
then  I  shall  be  dead.  I  must  finish  it."  And  so  he  in- 
sisted on  it,  and  they  brought  the  old  man  in  again  and 
Mr.  Stuart  said  there  never  was  such  a  sight.  When 
they  saw  him  being  brought  in,  the  whole  body  rose  as 
one  man,  not  a  w^ord  was  said,  and  tears  were  flowing  on 
every  side.  And  the  old  man  stood  there  with  his  hand 
on  the  rail,  faint  and  exhausted,  and  closing  up  that  speech 


30  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

he  said,  "  Is  it  true,  fathers  and  mothers  of  Scotland  ;  is 
it  true,  elders  of  Scotland,  that  you  have  no  more  sons  to 
go  to  India  ?  If  Queen  Victoria  sends  out  a  call  for  her 
army  you  are  always  ready  to  send  your  sons  to  fight  her 
battles,  and  all  the  sons  of  Scotland  are  ready  to  go.  But 
the  Lord  Jesus  has  called  and  no  one  answers.  Is  it  true, 
Mr.  Moderator,  that  Scotland  has  no  son  for  India.  Well, 
then  let  it  be  announced,  and  although  my  health  is  shat- 
tered, I  will  go  back  to  the  shores  of  the  Ganges  and  let 
them  know  there  is  one  poor  old  Scotchman  ready  to  die 
for  them  if  he  cannot  live  for  them."  (Cries  of  Amen  ! 
Amen  !)  Oh,  may  God  waken  up  Boston,  and  may  every 
child  of  God  go  forth  into  the  vineyard  and  work  for  Him 
with  enthusiasm.  Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  enthusiasm,  or 
to  carry  it  into  the  work  of  the  Lord.  Why  should  we  be 
afraid  of  it  ?  Christ  died  for  us.  Shall  not  we  be  ready 
to  live  for  Him  and  work  for  Him  t     Lei  us  pray. 


"  SAVED  OR  LOST.' 


Saved  or  lost ;  in  the  fold  or  out  of  it.  That  is  thel 
question  to-night.  I  would  like  to  have  every  one  ask 
himself  now,  am  I  saved  or  am  I  lost?  Some  have  got 
the  idea  that  they  are  not  to  be  lost  till  the  great  day  of 
judgment,  and  then  the  question  will  be  settled.  Now  if 
Christ  has  not  found  you,  and  if  you  have  not  been  re- 
deemed by  His  precious  blood,  it  is  very  clearly  taught  in 
"^  the  Scripture  that  you  are  already  lost ;  not  going  to  be 
lost,  but  you  are  already  lost.  I  want  to  take  up  the  sub- 
ject that  I  had  last  night  —  that  the  Son  of  Man  has  come 
to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost.  The  man  who  is 
not  saved  is  lost ;  we  are  not  born  Christians,  even  if  we 
are  born  in  Boston.  This  is  very  clearly  taught  in  the 
Word  of  God.  He  says,  except  a  man  be  born  again  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  was  not  said  to 
the  drunkard  ;  it  was  not  said  to  some  poor  fellow  out- 
cast ;  but  it  was  said  to  a  man  who  had  as  good  a  moral 
character  as  any  man  in  Boston.  He  was  not  only  a 
Pharisee,  but  a  teacher  of  the  Law,  a  doctor  of  divinity. 
"  Ye  must  be  born  again."  Now  the  question  is,  "  Have 
you  been  born  again  ?  "  We  are  told  in  one  place  to  be 
ready  and  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  us.  Now, 
if  you  are  a  Christian,  what  is  your  hope  ?  Is  it  that  you 
belong  to  some  church  "i  Is  it  that  you  have  been  baptized 
in  infancy  ?  Is  that  a  certain  sign  of  a  new  birth  ?  Now 
if  we  are  resting  our  hopes  on  some  false  foundation  let  us 
ask  God  to-night  to  take  it  away.  Let  us  be  honest  about 
our  souls'  salvation.  We  can  afford  to  be  honest  about  that, 


32 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


I  hope,  if  we  can  afford  to  be  honest  about  anything  in  this 
world.  It  is  better  for  us  to  be  deceived  about  a  thousand 
things  than  to  be  deceived  about  this  one  thing.  Saved  or 
7'iost !  Am  I  saved  or  am  I  lost?  If  I  should  be  brought 
to  the  point  of  death  to-night,  where  would  my  soul  be  ? 
What  is  my  hope  of  eternal  life  ?  Now  it  is  to  those  who 
have  not  answered  these  questions,  who  have  not  found 
their  hope,  who  are  not  saved,  that  I  would  like  to  speak 
to-night.  I  would  like  to  tell  them  that  the  Son  of  Man 
came  into  this  world  to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost, 
and  if  you  choose  to  take  your  place  among  the  lost  to-night, 
you  will  find  that  the  Son  of  God,  that  Jesus  is  at  the  very 
door  of  your  heart  knocking  for  admittance,  and  that  He 
will  save  you  now.  We  find  a  great  many  people  with 
their  arms  folded  waiting  for  God  to  do  something  more 
for  their  salvation.  If  you  go  to  the  Saviour  fully  and 
freely  and  keep  Him,  you  are  saved ;  if  not,  you  are  lost. 
There  is  no  other  name  among  men  by  which  you  can  be 
saved  except  that  name.  No  other  foundation  can  be  laid 
than  that  which  He  has  laid.  Do  not  think  you  can  get 
into  Heaven  without  Christ  and  without  climbing  up  some 
other  way  than  by  a  thieves'  ladder.  I  once  heard  of  a 
man  who  thought  he  could  work  his  way  up  to  heaven  by 
giving  up  his  wealth  and  doing  good  deeds,  and  one  night 
he  had  a  dream.  He  dreamed  he  was  building  a  ladder 
from  earth  to  heaven.  And  at  first  it  was  pretty  near  the 
ground  ;  but  as  he  kept  doing  good  deeds  it  kept  going  up 
and  up,  and  one  day  he  was  unusually  generous,  gave 
several  thousand  dollars  to  a  good  purpose  or  something 
of  that  sort,  and  it  went  right  out  of  sight. 

He  helped  God  a  good  many  years,  and  the  ladder  kept 
going  up  higher  until  finally  it  went  right  up  to  the  throne 
of  God,  and  then  he  thought  he  was  going  to  be  saved  ;  so 
he  left  the  world  and  started  up  the  ladder,  and  before  he 
got  far  the  ladder  began  to  tremble,  and  when  he  got  up 


''SAVED  OR  Losrr  33 

into  the  clouds  it  shook  so  he  could  hardly  keep  on,  and 
while  he  was  clinging  there,  terribly  frightened,  he  heard  a 
voice  from  the  throne — "  He  that  climbeth  up  some  other 
way,  he  is  a  thief  and  a  robber."  And  then  down  came 
the  ladder  and  he  awoke  from  his  sleep.  If  you  would  go  t. 
to  heaven  think  of  that  dream  and  know  that  you  must  gD 
through  the  way  that  God  has  provided,  that  is,  through 
His  own  Son.  I  only  want  to  say  to  those  who  are  awake 
that  if  they  are  lost  and  waiting  for  Christ  to  find  them, 
if  they  wait  they  are  lost.  Some  people  think  the  Lord 
will  seek  them.  They  will  not  come  until  the  Lord  has 
sought  them.  They  are  waiting  for  Him  to  seek  them  out. 
Now,  I  would  like  to  ask  if  there  is  a  man  or  woman  in 
this  assembly  to-night  who  really  believes  in  his  heart 
"  God  has  not  sought  for  me."  Is  there  any  one  who  can 
say  to-night,  "  The  Son  of  God  has  never  sought  for  me  !  '* 
You  have  never  heard  a  sermon  but  you  have  heard  the 
Son  of  God  seeking  for  you  through  that  spiritual  form. 
How  many  of  you  have  heard  faithful  gospel  sermons,  not 
in  Boston,  but  in  other  cities  ?  Well,  the  Son  of  God  was  in 
those  sermons,  seeking  for  your  lost  soul.  You  never  heard 
a  portion  of  Scripture  read  but  the  Son  of  God  was  seeking 
your  lost  soul.  Many  of  you  have  had  tracts  given  you, 
perhaps  by  a  stranger  on  the  street.  Who  was  it  prompt- 
ed that  tract.''  Perhaps  you  used  it  to  light  your  cigar 
with.  Perhaps  it  bore  a  startling  title,  "  Where  are 
you  going  to  ? "  and  you  felt  indignant  and  wouldn't 
read  it.  Nevertheless  it  was  the  Son  of  God  who  was 
seeking,  through  that  tract,  for  your  soul.  Satan  don't 
prompt  men  to  circulate  tracts,  unless  they  are  infidel  tracts. 
Many  of  you  have  had  praying  mothers,  and  still  have 
them  on  earth.  Why,  God  is  seeking  for  your  soul  through 
the  prayers  of  that  sainted  mother.  They  have  been  going 
up  from  your  cradle  until  now,  and  that  is  the  Son  of  God 
seeking  your  lost  soul.     Some  of  you  have  had  kind  friends 

3 


34  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

come  and  put  their  hand  on  your  shoulder  and  ask  you  to 
be  a  child  of  God,  and  that  is  the  Son  of  God  seeking  for 
your  lost  soul.  That  is  His  prompting.  It  is  not  the  work 
of  the  enemy  to  send  a  m.an  to  talk  with  you  about  your 
soul.  And  some  of  you  at  the  midnight  hour,  when  you 
have  been  alone  in  your  room,  have  lain  for  hours  and  have 
looked  back  into  the  past  and  have  asked  yourselves  some 
pretty  solenin  questions,  and  there  has  been  a  gentle  voice 
whispering  in  your  ear  :  Come  to  Christ !  That  is  the  Son 
of  God  coming  to  you  at  the  midnight  hour,  pleading  with 
you  to  accept  Him.  Some  of  you  have  had  friends  who 
have  gone  from  this  world,  and  when  they  have  left  you 
they  made  you  promise  them  they  should  meet  you  in  eter- 
nity. That  was  the  Son  of  God  speaking  to  you  through 
that  sainted  mother  or  child.  Oh  !  many  of  you  have  friends 
in  that  world  of  light  to-night,  and  if  they  could  speak  to 
you  now  they  would  call  you  up  to  that  blessed  world. 
/'"^Why  he  erected  this  building.  Did  infidels  do  it? 
Did  the  enemies  of  Christ  put  it  up  ?  What  does  it  mean 
in  the  heart  of  this  great  city  t  This  very  building  ought 
to  preach  a  sermon  more  powerful  than  anything  I  can 
ever  preach  in  Boston.  It  is  the  Son  of  God  preaching 
for  your  lost  soul.  Every  time  your  eye  rests  on  this  build- 
ing you  ought  to  say,  "  That  is  the  Son  of  God  seeking  for 
me,"  for  he  certainly  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  the  business 
men  of  Boston  to  build  this  building.  Their  names  don't 
appear.  They  are  men  who  love  your  souls.  The  Son  of 
God  has  prompted  them  to  put  up  this  building ;  and,  as 
the  ark  of  old  to  the  antediluvians,  this  building  ought  to 
be  a  warning  to  every  sinner  in  Boston.  It  is  the  Son  of 
God  seeking  the  lost  soul  of  every  man  in  this  city.  There 
is  another  way  in  which  the  Son  of  God  seeks  for  your  soul, 
and  that  is  by  the  Holy  Spirit  that  He  sends  into  this  world. 
Undoubtedly  many  of  you  have  said:  "This  is  a  strange 
atmosphere  here,"  and  you  couldn't  help  noticing  the  dif- 


''SAVED  OR  Losrr  35 

ference  between  these  meetings  and  the  gambiing  dens  and 
drinking  saloons  of  this  city.  Well,  I  should  say  there  was. 
What  is  it,  my  friends  ?  It  is  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  sent 
Him  into  this  world  to  seek  and  to  save  you.  There  was 
a  minister  who  went  into  the  theatre,  when  I  was  in  the 
South  last  winter,  and  preached,  and  a  clown  came  in  and 
the  Spirit  of  God  carried  home  the  preacher's  words  to  that 
man's  heart,  and  he  got  an  idea  the  minister  was  preaching 
about  him  and  was  picturing  him  out  to  the  whole  audience, 
and  by  and  by  he  got  mad.  I  would  rather  have  people 
get  mad  than  go  to  sleep.  By  and  by  he  stalked  out  of  the 
theatre  and  waited  on  the  sidewalk  for  the  minister  to  come 
out,  and,  when  the  audience  came  out  he  declared  he  was 
going  to  flog  the  minister.  And  his  old  associates  gathered 
around  him  and  expected  some  sport.  And  when  the  min 
ister  came  out  the  clown  stepped  up  and  said  :  "  What  did 
you  mean  by  insulting  me  ?  "  "  Why  I  don't  know  you," 
said  the  minister.  "  Don't  know  me  !  You  have  been  ex- 
posing me."  "  Why,  sir,  you  are  mistaken.  I  never  saw 
you  in  my  life."  Oh  !  there  was  the  Spirit  of  God  search- 
ing out  the  lost,  the  Son  of  God  was  seeking  for  him.  And 
in  the  following  February  that  man  was  going  from  town  to 
town  telling  what  Christ  had  done  for  him. 

There  may  be  some  great  infidel  here.  I  hope  the 
Spirit  of  God  will  search  him  out  and  bring  him  to  the 
cross  to-night.  There  are  hundreds  of  ways  in  which  the 
Son  of  God  seeks  to  save.  But  I  want  to  say  right  here, 
don't  any  one  of  you  go  out  saying  the  Son  of  God  never 
sought  for  your  soul.  The  man  don't  live  whom  the  Son 
of  God  never  sought  to  save.  I  wish  I  could  make  that 
word  real — Lost !  Lost !  I  don't  believe  there  would  be  a 
dry  eye  here  to-night.  If  you  were  saved  yourself  how 
your  hearts  would  go  out  after  your  children  and  the  mem- 
bers of  your  family.  Oh  that  the  Son  of  God  may  wake 
us  up  to  realize  what  it  is  to  be  lost !    When  I  went  back 


36  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

to  Chicago  I  found  that  while  I  had  been  away  a  good 
number  of  my  friends,  who  were  quite  well  off  when  I  left, 
had  lost  all  their  property.  I  couldn't  help  but  sympathize 
with  them.  You  have  got  some  people  in  Boston  who  have 
lost  their  property.  You  cannot  help  but  sympathize  with 
them.  But  what  is  the  loss  of  wealth,  my  friends,  in  com- 
parison with  the  loss  of  a  soul.  It  were  better  to  lose 
everything  we  have  and  go  out  to  some  poor-house  with 
God  than  to  roll  down  to  hell  in  a  golden  chariot.  Some 
of  you  mourn  for  friends  who  have  lost  their  health.  But 
what  is  the  loss  of  health  in  comparison  with  the  loss  of  a 
soul  ?  There  is  hope  for  a  man's  body  if  he  has  saved  his 
soul.  He  will  have  a  glorified  body  by  and  by  in  the  land 
where  sickness  and  death  never  come.  I  remember  being 
in  the  eye  infirmary  in  Chicago,  and  a  mother  came  in  with 
a  beautiful  girl  in  her  arms,  and  said,  "  Doctor,  something 
ails  my  child's  eyes."  The  doctor  pulled  back  the  lid  and 
something  fell  out  on  the  floor,  and  he  said,  with  amaze- 
ment, "  The  child  has  lost  that  eye."  And  he  pulled  back 
the  other  lid  and  found  that  eye  was  lost  too.  And  the 
mother  said,  "  You  don't  mean  she  has  lost  her  sight  for- 
ever !  "  "  Yes,"  said  the  doctor,  "  your  child  will  never  see 
again."  And  when  the  truth  dawned  upon  her,  she  pressed 
her  child  to  her  heart,  and  uttered  a  heart-rending  scream, 
and  said,  "  Oh  !  my  darling  child  !  are  you  never  to  see 
your  mother  on  earth  again  t  "  Well,  we  could  not  but 
sympathize  with  that  mother.  But  what  is  that  loss  in 
comparison  with  the  loss  of  a  soul  ?  God  has  given  me 
two  children,  and  no  one  but  God  knows  how  I  love  them. 
They  are  dearer  to  me  than  my  own  life.  But  I  would 
rather  have  them  go  down  to  the  grave  blind,  and  with  God, 
than  have  them  keep  their  sight  and  go  down  to  their  grave 
without  the  hope  of  immortality.  Loss  of  health,  or  wealth, 
or  life,  is  not  anything  to  compare  with  the  loss  of  the  hope 
of  immortality.     Now,  I  can  imagine  some  of  you  say  you 


"  SA  VED  OR  Losrr  37 

would  like  to  be  saved,  and  saved  to-night.  Well,  if  you 
would  you  need  not  wait  till  I  get  through  this  sermon. 
You  can  just  bow  your  head  and  accept  Christ  right  here. 
Because  He  has  come  for  that  very  purpose.  That  is  His 
profession.  That  is  His  work — to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost.  Oh  !  God,  save  the  lost  that  are  in  this 
Tabernacle  to-night.  Let  there  be  one  united  wave  of 
prayer  here  to-night,  for  that,  and  God  will  answer  prayer. 
If  you  had  a  lost  child  in  Boston  to-night  you  would  be 
willing  to  sit  up  all  night  to  find  it.  Suppose  it  was  known 
that  Charlie  Ross  was  concealed  in  Boston,  how  you  would 
go  out  and  search  the  city  all  over  all  night  for  that  boy. 
But  think  of  the  lost  souls  in  this  city,  in  the  billiard 
saloons  and  gambling  dens — young  men  that  are  noble, 
that  will  make  jewels  that  will  sparkle  in  the  Saviour's 
crown  for  eternity,  and  yet  Satan  is  taking  them  bodily 
down  to  death  and  hell.  Why,  one  of  them  came  here 
last  night — he  was  drunk — and  he  said  he  thought  I  was 
mad,  and  he  prayed  for  me.  Is  it  not  written.  "  No 
drunkard  shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  "  Is  God  true 
or  not?  If  any  man  tells  us  that  these  drunkards  can  reel 
into  Heaven,  tell  him  he  is  a  liar.  Heaven  would  be  as 
corrupt  as  earth  if  that  were  possible.  Well,  the  loss  of 
friends  is  sad.  Some  of  you  have  gone  to  a  funeral, 
perhaps,  to-day.  But  the  loss  of  friends  is  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  the  loss  of  a  soul.  It  seems  to  me  I  would 
rather  have  all  my  friends  snatched  away  to-night  to  Christ 
than  to  have  them  live  for  years  with  me  without  hope. 
There  was  a  Superintendent  of  a  Sunday  School  in  Chicago, 
years  ago,  who  took  his  children  out  on  an  excursion.  A 
beautiful  little  boy  fell  under  the  wheels,  and  the  whole 
train  passed  over  him.  The  remains  were  so  mangled  he 
had  to  take  off  his  coat  to  tie  them  up  to  take  them  to  the 
father  and  mother.  Three  of  them  went  with  them  to  the 
house.     When  they  got  there  they  didn't  any  of  them  want 


38  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

to  go  in.  One  said,  "  You  go,"  and  the  other  said,  "You 
go."  At  last  the  Superintendent  went  in.  The  father  and 
mother  were  dining,  and  he  called  the  father  out  and  told 
him  that  little  Jimmy  was  run  over.  And  the  father 
/rushed  in  to  the  mother  and  said,  "  Dead  !  "  "  Dead  !  " 
"  Dead  !  "  "  Who  ?  "  said  the  mother.  "  Our  little  J  immy." 
And  that  mother  came  rushing  out,  crying,  "  Where  is  my 
Jimmy  ? "  And  when  he  told  that  mother  her  boy  was  - 
mangled  so  that  he  could  not  be  recognized,  she  fainted 
away.  "Moody,"  said  that  Superintendent  to  me,  "I 
wouldn't  be  a  messenger  like  that  again  for  all  I  have  ! " 

You  can't  help  but  say  that  was  sad  ;  but  what  was  the 
loss  of  that  little  child  in  comparison  with  the  loss  of  those 
young  men  who  have  grown  up  to  manhood  and  rejected 
the  Son  of  God,  died  without  the  Son  of  God,  died  without 
hope,  died  without  mercy,  died  without  excuse?  I  have 
got  an  only  son,  and  I  would  rather  have  a  train  of  cars 
one  hundred  miles  long  roll  over  him  than  have  him  die 
without  God  and  without  hope.  Make  this  the  burden  of 
your  prayers  for  your  friends,  "  O  God,  save  them  !  "  If 
man  was  not  lost,  what  did  Christ  come  for?  What  did 
Calvary  mean  with  all  its  horrors  if  man  is  not  lost  ?  Do 
you  think  Christ  would  have  come  if  man  could  have  come 
to  God  by  his  own  efforts  ?  Let  us  not  be  deceived  by  the 
great  enemy  of  souls.  Oh  !  that  the  scales  may  fall  from 
our  eyes  and  that  we  may  realize  what  it  means — the  loss 
of  a  soul  !  After  that  vessel  went  down  off  the  coast  of  New- 
foundland, some  years  ago — one  of  the  White  Star  Line — 
and  500  went  down  to  a  watery  grave,  there  was  a  business 
man  of  Detroit  who  was  thought  to  be  lost.  But  while  his 
wife  and  friends  were  in  the  midst  of  their  mourning  there 
came  a  despatch  from  him,  with  his  own  name  signed  to  it; 
saying  just  this — "  Saved  !"  [At  this  time  considerable  com- 
motion took  place  on  the  Tremont  street  side  of  the  au- 
dience owing  to  a  man  who  fainted  and  had  to  be  carried  out. 


''SAVED  OR  LOST."  39 

When  he  was  got  into  the  lobby  cold  water  was  thrown  over 
him  and  he  was  left  to  go  home  alone.]  Mr.  Moody  con- 
tinuing, said :  It  is  some  one  that  has  fainted.  It  is  a 
glorious  thing  they  haven't  died,  isn't  it?  Nevermind  that 
person  who  has  fainted.  Let  us  attend  to  the  interests  of 
our  souls  to-night.  Ask  yourselves,  Am  I  redeemed  to- 
night t  If  not,  why  not  settle  the  great  question  here  to- 
night ?  Why  postpone  it  any  longer  ?  Why  make  any 
more  delay?  There  is  a  story  of  Rowland  Hill.  He  was 
preaching  in  the  open  air  when  Lady  Erskine  rode  by,  and 
she  ordered  her  carriage  driven  as  close  up  as  possible,  so 
that  she  might  hear  him.  And  Rowland  Hill  said  :  "  My 
friends,  I  have  got  something  here  for  sale  to-day."  Of 
course  all  was  silence  then.  "  I  am  going,  "  he  said  "  to 
sell  it  by  auction.  It  is  worth  more  than  the  crown  of 
England.  It  is  worth  more  than  all  the  world.  It  is  the 
soul  of  Lady  Ann  Erskine.  Hark  !  I  hear  a  bid  for  her 
soul.  Who  bids  ?  Satan  bids.  Satan,  what  will  you  give 
for  this  soul  ?  '  I  will  give  riches  and  honor  and  pleasure  ; 
yea,  I  will  give  the  whole  world  for  her  soul  ! '  Do  I  hear 
another  bid  for  this  soul  ?  Ah  !  methinks  I  hear  another 
bid.  Who  bids  ?  The  Lord  Jesus  bids.  Jesus,  what  will 
you  bid  for  this  soul  ?  '  I  will  give  peace  and  joy  and  com- 
fort that  the  world  knows  not  of.  Yea,  I  will  give  eternal 
life  for  her  soul  1 '  "  Turning  to  Lady  Erskine  he  said, 
"  You  have  here  two  bidders,  which  will  3''OU  take  ?  "  And, 
ordering  her  carriage  door  opened,  she  pushed  her  way 
through  the  crowd  and  said,  "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  have 
my  soul  if  He  will  take  it,"  That  story  may  be  true,  or  it 
may  not  be  true.  But  it  is  true  there  are  two  parties  bid- 
ding for  your  soul  to-night.  A  little  child  dying  said  to  its 
mother,  "  What  mountains  do  I  see  yonder  ?  "  "  There  are 
no  mountains  in  front  of  the  house,  my  child."  "  Yes, 
there  are,  mother,  don't  you  see  them  ?  Won't  you  take 
me  over  in  your  arms  ?  "     And  the   mother  got  down  and 


40 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


prayed,  and  told  her  boy  that  Jesus  would  be  with  him.  And 
then  the  child's  eyes  brightened  and  he  said,  "  Mother, 
don't  you  hear  them  ?  "  "  Hear  who,  my  child  ?  "  "  Hear 
the  angels,  mother.  They  are  just  on  the  other  side  of 
the  mountains.  Carry  me  over  the  mountains,  mother." 
"  I  can't  do  that,  my  child,  the  Saviour  will  take  you  over. 
Jesus  will  be  with  you.  Look  to  Him."  And  then  he 
breathed  a  prayer  and  said,  "  Good-by,  mother,  Jesus  has 
come  to  carry  me  over  the  mountain,"  and  then  the  little 
sufferer  was  gone.  Oh,  sinner  !  Christ  has  come  to  carry 
you  over  the  mountain.  He  will  fold  you  to  His  bosom 
and  carry  you  unto  His  kingdom.  I  thank  God  that  he 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
Him  should  have  everlasting  life.  Let  us  lift  our  hearts  in 
prayer  now  for  the  lost  souls  in  this  building  to-night. 


■» 

^ 


THE    HOLY    SPIRIT,   III.* 

By  it   we   are   made   free   from   the    law. 

We  have  for  our  subject  to-day  the  Holy  Spirit.  I 
want  to  call  your  attention  to  Galatians,  fifth  chapter  and 
eighteenth  verse  :  "  But  if  ye  be  led  of  the  Spirit,  ye  are 
not  under  the  law."  Now  every  child  of  God  ought  to  be 
led  by  the  Spirit,  and  as  long  as  they  are  led  by  Him  they 
are  led  into  light  and  not  into  darkness.  The  Spirit  of 
God  never  yet  led  one  of  God's  children  into  darkness, 
and  if  there  are  any  Christians  here  to-day  in  any  darkness, 
it  is  because  they  are  not  willing  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit. 
That  is  the  way  we  are  to  get  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ; 
to  be  led  out  of  darkness  into  God's  kingdom.  Perhaps 
many  of  you  have  been  talking  with  souls  that  have  been 
struggling  and  praying  to  get  liberty  and  to  get  into  God's 
kingdom,  and  you  have  watched  their  countenances  as  the 
light  broke  upon  them  and  their  faces  have  filled  with  a 
glorious  light.  Now  that  takes  place  when  a  man  is  will- 
ing to  let  the  Spirit  lead  him  ;  that  is  when  they  are  con- 
verted. The  conflict  to  get  into  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
all  their  own  :  it  isn't  God's  fault.  As  a  Scotchman  once 
said,  it  took  two  to  bring  him  to  God ;  it  took  the  Lord 
and  himself.  A  friend  asked  him  what  he  did  and  he 
said  he  fought  God,  but  the  Lord  did  all  the  rest  till  he 
gave  in.  That  is  the  fault.  People  are  not  willing  to  give 
up  their  own  way,  but  when  they  are  ready  to  surrender 
themselves  up  and  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  He  leads 


*  The  first  two  sermons  of  the  series  on  The  Holy  Spirit — See 
Glad  Tidings.      Page  273. 


42 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


them  unto  life  eternal.  Oh,  Christians,  if  you  will  be  led 
by  the  Spirit  you  will  have  peace  and  joy  that  will  throw 
light  on  questions  that  you  don't  now  understand.  Such 
as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  don't  know  what  darkness  is.  But 
when  we  want  our  own  way,  and  are  led  by  the  flesh  and 
the  motives  of  the  flesh  ;  when  the  world  and  the  influences 
of  the  world  lead  us,  then  it  is  that  we  get  into  darkness. 
Let  us  .ask  ourselves  to-day  :  "  Am  I  led  by  the  Spirit  ?  Is 
the  Holy  Spirit  my  guide  ?  "  It  says/ in  the  ist  chapter  of 
Romans,  8th  verse :  "There  is  therefore  now  no  condem- 
nation to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  If  we  walk  after  the 
Spirit,  there  is  no  condemnation.  Our  consciences  are 
not  all  the  time  lashing  us.  I  think  that  the  trouble  with 
a  great  many  Christians  is,  that  they  are  all  the  time  con- 
demning themselves.  Why  ?  Because  they  are  led  by  the 
flesh,  and  not  by  the  Spirit.  We  are  told  that  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  came  upon  Christ,  as  He  came  out  of  Jordan, 
that  the  Spirit  led  Him.  And  whenever  we  are  led  by  the 
Spirit,  we  are  led  in  the  way  that  God  would  have  us  go. 
And  how  are  we  to  find  out  whether  this  Spirit  of  God 
leadeth  us  or  whether  it  is  the  flesh  ?  Why,  you  will  find 
it  in  the  Word.  The  Holy  Ghost  always  quotes  the  Word. 
You  will  find  that  a  man  who  is  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
generally  full  of  Scripture,  and  that  will  lead  you  aright. 
But  a  man  who  preaches,  and  has  dreams  and  everything 
but  the  Word  to  present  to  you,  you  cannot  tell  where  he 
will  lead  you.  If  a  man  tells  me  that  the  Spirit  told  him 
to  do  so  and  so,  I  would  rather  have  him  draw  on  the 
Bible  for  what  he  is  saying,  and  then  I  can  know  sure  if 
the  Spirit  said  it.  A  man  once  came  down  to  the  Taber- 
nacle where  we  were  and  said  that  the  Spirit  told  to  him 
to  preach  there  for  me ;  but  I  told  him  that  the  Spirit 
hadn't  told  me  so,  and  how  was  I  to  know  ?  But  many 
such  men  haven't  God.     They  have  a  false  idea  that  they 


THE  HOL  V  SPIRIT,  III. 


43 


are  taught  by  the  Spirit,  when  they  haven't  got  the  Word 
of  God.  A  man  filled  with  the  Spirit  is  all  the  time  bring- 
ing out  the  Word  of  God,  whether  men  around  them  like 
it  or  not,  because  he  feels  with  the  Word.  If  we  only  get 
this  lesson  into  our  hearts  about  giving  up  our  own  way 
and  will  entirely  to  God,  and  be  led  by  the  Spirit,  how 
many  dark  hours  would  be  saved  from  a  conflict  with  the 
enemy.  Do  you  think  God  would  have  gone  to  Sodom  if 
the  Spirit  had  only  animated  them  there, — if  they  had  been 
led  by  it?  Do  you  think  that  men  of  Boston  would  be 
troubled  about  their  souls  if  they  were  led  by  the  Spirit? 
Do  you  think  that  men  would  fail  in  business  if  they  were 
led  by  the  Spirit  ?  It  is  this  spirit  of  ambition  to  get  rich, 
and  be  the  richest  man  and  stand  at  the  head  of  some 
profession.  This  isn't  really  the  Spirit  of  God  leading 
men.  Men  are  all  the  time  taking  false  steps,  because 
they  are  not  willing  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit.  And  not 
only  that,  but  do  you  think  that  so  many  men  would 
go  to  ruin  if  they  would  let  the  Spirit  lead  them  ? 
This  question  of  public  amusements  comes  up  and  it  is 
asked,  "Is  it  right  to  dance?"  All  I  have  got  to  say 
is,  if  the  Spirit  of  God  says  dance,  then  dance.  Let 
the  Spirit  of  God  be  your  teacher,  and  you  will  see  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong.  Men  say,  "  Is  it  consistent  for 
me  to  go  to  the  theatre  ?  "  Christ  didn't  really  lay  down 
the  rule  about  that,  mentioning  it  in  particular,  but  Christ's 
principle  is  that  you  are  to  give  yourself  up  to  the  Spirit  of 
the  Word.  Then  you  will  be  guided  aright  and  make  no 
mistake.  A  man  told  me  in  Chicago  that  he  had  been 
converted,  but  he  said  he  hadn't  given  up  anything,  that 
he  hadn't  given  up  the  theatre  or  novels,  and  wasn't  going 
to  give  up  anything.  Well,  I  didn't  say  anything.  He 
went  to  the  theatre,  but  he  said  he  didn't  stay  there,  for  he 
had  no  desire  to ;  that  he  couldn't  read  novels,  for  he 
hadn't  any  taste  for  them.     The  reason  was  simple.     When 


44  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

a  man  is  filled  with  the  Spirit  he  won't  want  to  love  those 
thinofs  he  once  did  ;  his  love  has  been  turned  into  anothei 
channel.  Men  say  that  they  can't  give  up  this  thing  or 
that  one.  You  let  the  Spirit  of  God  get  into  their  hearts, 
and  they  can.  They  can't  do  it  themselves,  but  God  can 
do  it  for  them.  You  cannot  find  in  the  teachings  of  Christ 
where  you  have  got  to  give  up  any  of  these  things.  You 
speak  of  this  or  that,  but  the  teaching  of  the  Word  is  that 
if  you  take  the  Spirit  of  God  it  will  enlighten  you  and  cast 
out  darkness.  My  wife  has  got  a  schoolmate  who  had  a 
beautiful  little  boy  about  four  years  old  that  put  his  eye  out 
with  a  pair  of  scissors.  Since  then  my  wife  has  always 
been  very  careful  about  our  little  child  using  a  pair  of  scis- 
sors. But  one  day  little  Willie  got  them  and  his  little  sister 
could  not  get  them  away  from  him.  She  knew  that  he  was 
fond  of  oranges,  and  so  she  ran  and  got  one  and  held  it  up 
and  said  :  "  Don't  you  want  an  orange  .'* "  and  he  just  drop- 
ped the  scissors  and  went  for  that  orange — that  was  better 
than  the  scissors.  Now,  that  is  just  the  way  with  the 
present  infidel ;  we  want  to  give  them  something  better 
than  they  have  got,  and  if  the  Spirit  of  God  gets  down 
into  their  hearts  they  will  have  something  better  and 
something  that  will  satisfy  them.  We  want  to  have  them, 
led  by  the  Spirit.  These  men,  led  by  the  spirit  of  the 
world,  cannot  give  the  world  up.  They  haven't  found  God. 
But  when  led  by  His  Spirit  they  can  easily  give  up  the 
world.  He  can  turn  their  appetites  and  wants  to.  Men 
want  the  Holy  Spirit  to  regulate  and  regenerate  their  life  j 
it  will  turn  the  whole  current  of  their  life.  An  old  citizen 
came  to  me  last  night,  and  said,  "  I  hope  you  won't  speak 
without  having  just  a  word  for  the  poor  drunkard."  1 
hope  that  you  won't  get  tired  if  I  do  so.  I  do  want  to  hold 
out  a  hope  to  the  poor  drunkard.  If  they  will  only  accept 
God  they  will  not  slumber  long  in  wickedness.  They  will 
get  the  world   under  their  feet  and   God  will  give  them 


THE  110 L  Y  SPIRIT,  III.  45 

power  to  hurl  the  cup  from  their  lips.  No  other  power 
can  do  it.  If  you  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  you  can  be 
saved.  Now  just  give  yourself  up  to  the  Spirit  of  God 
while  I  am  talking  and  say  :  "  Spirit  of  God,  lead  me  ;  I 
give  up  all  to  You  ;  I  make  a  complete  surrender  ;  God's 
will  shall  be  my  will,  and  His  spirit  shall  lead  me  from 
this  day  and  hour, "  and  see  how  quick.  He  will  come  to 
your  help.  If  you  get  your  right  hand  in  God's  He  will 
lead  you  safely  to  the  light.  Don't  think  that  He  will  lead 
you  into  any  vice.  Don't  think  that  He  will  desert 
you.  He  knows  your  life,  your  wants,  your  temptations. 
I  don't  think  there  has  ever  been  a  soul  led  wrong  when 
led  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Now,  who  is  it  that  grieves  ?  Turn 
to  the  fourth  chapter  of  Ephesians,  thirtieth  verse,  and  you 
will  find  that  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  And  grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye 
are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption." 

Bear  in  mind,  that  was  written  to  the  Church  at  Ephe- 
sus.  A  great  many  have  got  the  idea  that  it  is  the  uncon- 
verted that  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit ;  but  it  is  the  Church. 
To  be  sure,  a  man  that  resists  the  Holy  Ghost  may  grieve 
Him  by  not  letting  Him  into  his  heart  ;  but  really  this 
was  written  to  the  Church. 

"  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamor, 
and  evil  speaking,  be  put  away  from  you,  with  all  malice." 

That  is,  the  Church  quarrels.  The  Master  knows 
that  after  the  devil  gets  into  the  Church  the  Holy  Ghost 
cannot  work.     That  is  one  way  we  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  And  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  for- 
giving one  another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath  for- 
given you." 

Now  if  we  grieve  the  Spirit  He  cannot  work  through  us 
and  use  us.  Th"s  is  to  the  Church.  Another  way  that  we 
grieve  the  Spirit   s  by  being  yoked  up  with  ungodly  people. 


46 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


We  want  to  be  separated.  There  was  a  time  when  there 
was  danger  of  the  Church  going  over  into  the  world.  But 
I  don't  think  there  is  so  much  danger  of  that  now  as  of  the 
devil  and  the  world  coining  into  the  Church.  That's  the 
danger.  Why,  you  see  the  height  of  the  fashion  in  the 
churches  !  We  have  got  theatricals  in  a  good  many  of  the 
churches.  Now  the  Holy  Ghost  is  grieved  in  that  way,  by 
letting  the  world  come  into  the  Church.  A  great  many  in 
the  Church  want  more  intellectual  power ;  but  that  isn't 
what  we  need  so  much  as  the  Holy  Ghost  power.  W^here 
can  they  look  to  find  greater  power  than  that  which  followed 
the  simple  preaching  of  Barnabas  and  Stephen?  "Why," 
they  say,  "  preach  about  the  sins  of  those  assembled  in  the 
church  and  you  would  preach  the  rich  people  out  of  doors ; 
they  wouldn't  stand  it.  W^e  must  get  a  man  that  will  just 
sort  of  compromise  between  the  Church  and  God,  and  make 
ever}^body  feel  that  they  are  all  right."  They  want  minis- 
ters to  preach  about  the  sins  of  the  old  patriarchs,  but  not 
about  the  sins  of  the  present  day.  They  are  some- 
thing like  a  man  in  Scotland  ;  an  old  minister  died, 
and  a  young  man  took  the  old  church,  and  the  first  tiniehe 
preached  he  began  to  bear  down  upon  the  sins  of  the  con- 
giegation.  After  the  service,  the  sexton,  or  the  beadle,  as 
they  call  them  there,  took  him  one  side  and  said  :  "  Young 
man,  if  you  want  to  be  popular  don't  you  speak  about  the 
sins  of  this  people,  but  speak  about  the  sins  of  Jacob, 
Isaac,  and  the  sinners  of  2000  years  ago.  They  will  like 
you  then.  They  won't  stand  hearing  the  sins  of  the  pres- 
ent day."  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  kind  of  preaching 
now.  Many  preachers  bring  up  the  sins  of  those  that  lived 
hundreds  of  years  ago.  But  if  we  are  going  to  honor  the 
Holy  Ghost  we  must  give  the  message  just  as  God  gives  it 
to  us.  And  if  we  are  not  willing  that  a  man  we  put  in  the 
pulpit  shall  speak  as  the  Spirit  comes  to  him,  as  that 
Spirit  directs,  then  the  Holy  Ghost  is  grieved.     Are  the 


TFTF.   FIOL  Y  SPIRIT,  III.  47 

churches  in  New  England  ready  for  that  ?  Are  they  ready 
that  ministers  should  preach  the  whole  truth,  if  it  does  cut 
to  the  heart?  If  a  man  has  been  defrauding  his  neighbor, 
are  they  ready  to  have  that  man  preached  about  and  that 
sin  brought  to  light  ?  When  we  get  sin  out  of  the  Church, 
and  man's  heart  pure,  we  will  have  more  conversions  in  one 
year  than  we  have  had  for  the  last  fifty  years.  I  know 
some  people  say  that  it  will  drive  away  the  moneyed  men 
from  the  Church  and  they  need  them.  If  it  will,  it  will 
bring  God  down  into  the  church  and  there  will  be  more 
power  in  the  Church.  We  don't  want  intellect  and  money 
power,  but  the  power  of  God's  Word  working  in  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  men,  making  them  over  anew — making  them 
holy  men.  And  then  we  will  see  men  converted.  How 
many  churches  do  you  think  there  are  in  New  England  that 
know  that  power  1  Why,  I  heard  of  a  church  in  Chicago 
which  hadn't  had  a  conversion  for  eight  years  !  Think  of 
it !  And  some  one  praying  for  that  church,  said  :  "  Give 
it  one  more  chance.  Lord,  before  You  spew  it  out  of  Thy 
mouth."  I  thought  that  was  a  very  appropriate  prayer. 
There  was  certainly  something  more  than  200  professed 
Christians  wrong  with  God.  The  Holy  Spirit  must  be 
grieved  when  Christians  can't  work  and  have  power.  Let 
them  not  talk  about  the  world  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit,  but 
bring  it  home  to  themselves.  Are  we  doing  anything  to 
grieve  the  Holy  Ghost  that  has  sealed  us  for  the  day  of 
redemption.''  In  the  ist  of  Thessalonians,  5th  chapter  and 
19th  verse,  we  find  these  words :  "  Quench  not  the  Spirit." 
That  was  written  to  the  Church.  How  ?  By  not  being 
willing  to  let  the  Spirit  of  God  lead  us.  We  are  all  the 
time  taking  God's  work  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Spirit 
into  our  own.  "Quench  not  the  Spirit."  We  quench  it  by 
this  terrible  lukewarmness,  by  this  coldness  and  stiffness 
which  has  come  into  the  Church.  Turn  over  to  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Acts  and  you  will  find  who  does  that  resists  the 


48 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


Holy  Ghost.    And  in  the  7th  chapter  of  Acts,  51st  to  54th 
verses,  we  read  : 

"  Ye  stiffnecked  and  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears 
ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost :  as  your  fathers  did, 
so  do  ye. 

"  Which  of  the  prophets  have  not  your  fathers  persecu- 
ted.? andthey  have  slain  them  which  shewed  before  of 
the  coming  of  the  Just  One  ;  of  whom  ye  have  been  now 
the  betrayers  and  murderers  : 

"  Who  have  received  the  law  by  the  disposition  of 
angels,  and  have  not  kept  it. 

"  When  they  heard  these  things,  they  were  cut  to  the 
heart,  and  they  gnashed  on  him  with  their  teeth." 

You  see  their  hearts  were  cut  to  the  quick.  On  the 
day  of  Pentecost  all  men's  hearts  were  cut  to  the  quick. 
And  so  it  was  when  Stephen  stood  up  there  and  gave  them 
the  trutli.  He  didn't  keep  anything  back.  He  knew  that 
it  would  cost  him  his  life  to  preach  the  truth,  but  he  gave 
them  the  truth.  "You  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost." 
That  is  what  the  world  is  doing  to-day — resisting,  I  can 
look,  in  my  mind,  to  men  now  resisting  the  prayers  of  a 
sainted  mother,  resisting  the  prayers  of  friends,  right  into 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  Why  do  men  resist  the  Holy 
Ghost  ?  We  are  told  in  the  i6th  chapter  of  John  and  8th 
verse,  that  "  He  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  judgment."  He  tells  men  their  faults. 
He  don't  tell  a  man  how  noble  and  how  great  he  is.  The 
devil  has  been  doing  that  for  six  thousand  years.  The 
Holy  Spirit  don't  throw  light  on  that^  and  that  is  the  reason 
a  great  many  don't  like  Holy  Ghost  preaching  :  because  it 
convinces  of  sin.  You  tell  a  man  his  faults,  and  he  will 
get  mad.  I  had  a  good  deal  rather  you  would  tell  me  my 
faults.  Will  you  listen  to  the  entreaties  of  kind  friends,  that 
love  you,  and  are  anxious  about  your  souls  !  Some  peo- 
ple think  that  the  broad  road  is  an  easy  way,  but  it  is  a 
very  hard  way.     You  have  got  to  pass  over  the  prayers  of 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT,  III  4^ 

your  best  friends,  the  feelings  of  your  friends  and  those 
you  love,  and  all  the  way  down  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  you  have  to  resist  the  Holy  Ghost.  How  many 
times  men  have  been  resisting  it.  "  You  do  always  resist 
the  Holy  Ghost."  If  men  would  only  stop  resisting  and 
come  to  themseh^es  and  be  led  by  that  Spirit,  He  will 
lead  them.  There  are  more  people  ruined  by  flattery  than 
by  telling  them  their  faults.  The  Holy  Ghost  never 
flatters,  but  convinces  us  of  sin,  and  that  is  the  reason 
many  don't  like  Him.  Another  man  and  I  met  a  man  in 
Chicago  sleeping  on  the  sidewalk.  It  was  one  of  the 
coldest  days  of  the  season,  and  we  knew  he  would  freeze 
if  we  didn't  wake  him.  We  awoke  him,  and  he  got  mad 
with  us.  That  was  just  what  we  wanted — to  get  his  blood 
stirred  and  then  he  would  be  all  right.  And  sometimes 
the  Holy  Ghost  wakes  up  men  and  they  wake  up  mad.  A 
man  said  once  that  he  was  pictured  out  before  a  whole 
audience ;  that  somebody  had  told  the  preacher  all  about 
him  ;  that  somebody  must  have  written  about  him  to  the 
preacher,  but  that  is  the  way  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
Holy  Spirit  convinces  men  of  sin,  and  then  men  resist. 
Sometimes,  when  you  wake  up  a  person,  they  wake  up 
very  cross,  and  that  is  the  way  men  often  act  when  the 
Spirit  is  counselling  them.  But  that  is  a  good  sign.  It  is 
better  to  have  them  wake  up  cross  than  sleepy,  because 
the  devil  can't  rock  them  to  sleep  easy.  Oh,  that  we  may 
have  preaching  that  will  wake  up  people  and  wake  up 
their  consciences.  In  the  2d  of  Corinthians,  3d  chapter 
and  6th  verse,  there  is  something  I  want4;o  call  your  at- 
tention to.  But  before  I  do  let  me  tell  you  of  a  circum- 
stance: A  lady  came  to  me  some  time  ago  and  wanted  to 
know  why  it  was  that  they  hadn't  any  conversions  in  her 
church.  They  said  that  the  minister  preached  good  sound 
orthodox  doctrine,  every  sermon  was  sound  ;  there  was  no 
trouble  about  them.     I  said,  that  may  be,  but  there  must 

4 


^o  TO  ALL  FEOFLE. 

be  something  beside  sound  doctrine.  I  don't  know  of  any- 
thing more  disgusting  than  dead  orthodoxy.  I  fear  that 
more  than  all  the  isms.  Orthodoxy,  dead,  is  an  abomina- 
tion to  God  and  man.  We  want  to  hold  these  truths,  not 
in  any  formal  way,  but  living  in  power  ;  and  if  men  follow- 
ed what  they  profess  to  believe  and  preach,  Christianity 
would  have  a  mighty  power  in  this  world.  I  think  this 
verse  (2d  Corinthians  iii.  6)  throws  light  upon  that  class 
that  work  and  preach  sound  in  the  doctrine  : 

"  Who  also  hath  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament ;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  Spirit :  for  the 
letter  killeth,  but  the  Spirit  giveth  life." 

Let  us  see.  If  we  have  sound  doctrine,  and  not  the 
Spirit  of  God  back  of  these  words  and  doctrine,  it  doesn't 
bring  life  to  the  heart.  "The  letter  killeth,"  and  that  is 
what  "  dead  orthodoxy  "  is  doing.  "  The  letter  killeth,  but 
the  Spirit  giveth  life."  We  find  in  the  6th  chapter  of 
Ephesians,  17th  verse  : 

"  And  take  the  helmet  of  salvation,  and  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God." 

If  we  don't  know  how  to  use  the  sword  what  is  the 
good  of  it.  We  may  have  the  Word,  but  if  we  have  not 
the  Spirit  of  God  and  are  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
handle  the  Word  and  know  how  to  use  it,  we  don't  accom- 
plish this  work.  But  if  the  Word  of  God  is  hid  in  our 
hearts,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  teaches  us  how  to  use  it,  then 
it  is  that  the  Word  is  sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword. 

[At  this  point  some  one  in  the  rear  of  the  chorus  seats 
uttered  a  loud  shout.  Mr.  Moody  turned  and  said,  "  My 
friend,  I  can  do  all  the  shouting  ;  I  can  speak  loud  enough 
without  any  help,"  and  proceeded  with  his  discourse.] 

If  we  can  only  just  get  hold  of  this  Word  in  our  prayer- 
meetings  ;  in  our  churches,  we  will  become  a  living  power. 
But  what  are  10,000  men  good  for,  if  they  don't  know  how 
to  use  their  weapons  .-*     An  army  of  500,  or  even  100,  could 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT,  III.  ^  I 

rout  10,000  if  the}^  didn't  know  how  to  use  their  swords. 
Let  us  have  the  spirit  of  this  Word,  and  if  ^^e  understand 
the  Word  "from  back  to  back  "  we  can  meet  these  infidels. 
People  talk  about  studying  books  to  meet  them.  All  you 
want  is  the  Word  of  God.  God  will  take  hold  of  his  Book 
and  meet  them.  You  can't  meet  men  with  your  opinion. 
Give  up  your  opinions  ;  just  tell  them  of  the  Word  of  God. 
He  will  take  care  of  His  Word.  It  will  cut  down  deep. 
They  may  fight  and  kick,  and  talk  and  swear  (even  some 
of  them  will  swear),  but  just  give  them  the  Word  and  the 
Spirit  will  do  its  own  work.  The  Spirit  can  convince.  I 
have  seen  men  come  into  the  inquiry-room,  just  to  talk  and 
discuss  and  get  up  an  argument.  Some  men  live  on  argu- 
ment.    Well,  I  generally  take  the   Bible  and  give   them  a 

few  verses,  "  But,"  they  say,  "  I  don't  believe  the  Bible." 
I  give  them  more  verses  and  they  say  the  same  thing.  But  . 
I  just  keep  giving  them  verses.  It  is  God's  own  Word.  I 
am  no  match  for  infidels,  but  this  Word  is  ;  this  Word  tells 
all  about  them.  There  have  been  infidels  for  600  years, 
and  probably  will  be  until  the  millennium  ;  but,  thank  God, 
there  won't  be  any  then.  The  only  way  to  meet  infidels  is 
to  meet  them  with  the  Word  of  God.  They  have  got  to 
settle  it  with  the  Spirit.  The  question  is,  "  Are  you  ready 
to  go  by  that .?  "  Are  you  ready  to  know  the  Word  t  I 
find  a  great  many  in  the  inquiry-room  as  workers  who  haven't 
got  any  Bible  with  them.  They  are  just  like  an  army  with- 
out any  weapons.  They  want  their  Bibles  to  meet  these 
sharp  infidels  and  give  them  the  Word.  You  cannot  con- 
vince them,  but  God  by  His  Word  can.  He  sends  us  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  we  are  to  preach  it  through  the 
Word  ;  and  if  we  are  only  full  of  it  we  can  give  them  the 
Word  and  know  how  to  use  it.  I  like  to  hear  these  men 
quote  Scripture  with  the  infidel,  and  then  that  ends  our 
work.  God  comes  right  in  as  a  third  party  and  defends 
His  work.     We  are  out  of  the   fight.     There  is  a  fight  be- 


52 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


tween  him  and  his  God.  But  the  Scriptures  cannot  be 
broken.  All  the  devils  in  hell  cannot  break  God's  Word. 
They  have  been  at  it  six  thousand  years  and  failed.  All 
the  infidels  in  Boston  cannot  break  it.  The  Scriptures 
cannot  be  broken  ;  they  have  been  fulfilled,  and  therefore 
let  us  take  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  and  go  to  work  for  God. 
David  said  that  he  had  the  Word  of  God  hid  in  his  heart. 
Some  one  has  said  that  it  was  a  good  thing  to  carry  the 
Bible  under  our  arm.  So  it  is,  but  it  is  better  to  have  it 
hid  in  our  heart,  and  then  the  Holy  Ghost  has  got  some- 
thing to  use  in  us.  Can  you  get  water  out  of  a  dry  well  ? 
If  we  haven't  got  the  Word  of  God  in  our  heart,  how  is 
the  Spirit  of  God  going  to  use  us  ?  He  isn't  going  to  take 
our  opinion  ;  he  uses  the  Word.  The  Word  is  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit.  I  saw  some  time  ago  what  were  termed  the 
emblems  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  I  copied  the  propositions  : 
Water — cleansing,  everlasting,  refreshing,  abundant,  freely 
given.  That  is  one  emblem  of  the  Spirit — water.  There 
were  some  men  who  went  to  Africa  ;  I  think  there  was  a 
colony  wanted  to  settle.  They  went  to  one  place,  but  were 
told  that  there  was  no  water,  and  going  to  another  found 
no  water ;  but  at  last  they  came  to  a  place  where  the  in- 
habitants said  that  the  clouds  pierced  there  and  they  got 
under  them.  They  settled  there.  Let  us  see  that  we  get 
under  the  pierced  clouds  and  have  the  Spirit  of  God  com- 
ing upon  us.  You  find  in  Exodus,  17th  chapter  and  6th 
rerse,  that  God  told  Moses  to  strike  the  rock  in  Horeb  and 
that  He  would  stand  there  before  Him,  A  very  singular 
thing  that  you  find  the  Trinity  concealed  there.  And  as 
Moses  struck  the  rock  there  was  the  power  of  the  Trinity 
manifest,  and  the  water  flowed  out  and  all  drank,  "  And  it 
was  all  done  in  the  sight  of  the  elders  of  Israel."  Let  us 
all  come  to  this  fountain  and  drink  deep  and  get  so  filled 
that  we  can't  hold  it ;  but  be  just  like  Jeremiah,  who  got 
it  into  his  bones  and  must  preach.     Let  us  preach.     Then 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT,  III.  ^2 

comes  fire  as  an  emblem  of  the  Holy  Ghost — illuminating, 
brilliant,  stirring.  Wind — independent,  powerful,  sensitive 
in  its  effects.  Oil — healing  and  comforting.  Rain  and 
dew — fertilizing,  refreshing,  penetrating,  abundant.  A  dove 
— gentle,  meek,  innocent,  forgiving.  A  voice — speaking, 
guiding,  warning.  A  seal — impressing,  securing.  These 
are  all  emblems  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  us  pray  that  each 
one  of  us  may  be  led  by  the  Spirit  from  this  day  and 
hour. 


THE   HOLY    SPIRIT'S    POWER,   IV. 


We  have  for  our  subject  this  afternoon  the  spirit  of 
power  and  the  spirit  of  service.  The  Word  of  God  teaches 
us  very  clearly  that  we  are  born  of  the  Spirit  when  we  aie 
led  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  the  14th  chapter  of  John 
and  the  17th  verse,  we  read  the  following  words  :  "  Even 
the  spirit  of  truth  ;  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because 
it  seeth  Him  not,  neither  knoweth  Him  ;  but  ye  know 
Him,  for  tie  dwelleth  with  you  and  shall  be  in  you." 
Then  in  the  ist  of  Corinthians,  i6th  and  17th  verses,  it 
says  :  "  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temples  of  God,  and 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you  .''  If  any  man  defile 
the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy ;  for  the  temple  of 
God  is  holy,  which  temple  ye  are."  Now  there  are  a  great 
many  that  have  the  witness  at  all  times  with  them  ;  that  are 
the  children  of  God,  but  they  have  not  got  the  power.  They 
have  all  the  signs  but  are  without  the  power.  You  will 
find  nine -tenths,  yes,  I  will  say  nineteen  out  of  every 
twenty  church  members,  that  are  without  power.  Th^y 
are  good  for  nothing  in  prayer-meeting.  They  have  got 
no  power  in  prayer.  We  do  not  see  them  at  Sunday 
School  or  at  work  anywhere.  They  are  willing  to  work, 
but  don't  know  how.  You  ask  them  how  the  work  of  the 
Lord  is  prospering  and  they  will  tell  you  they  don't  know. 
Now  these  people  have  really  been  born  of  the  Spirit,  they 
have  a  work  of  grace  in  their  soul  but  they  do  not  know 
what  to  do  for  God.  They  have  received  the  Spirit  but 
have  not  obtained  the  power  while  admitting  that  they  are 
believers.     But  then  there  are  so  many  sons  and  daugh- 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT'S  FO IVEK,  IV. 


55 


ters  without  power,  so   many  Christians  without  example, 
and  that  is  what  is   the  matter.     We  want  to   have  them 
baptized  by  the  Holy  Ghost  so  that  they   shall   have  the 
power.     They  want  to  be    anointed   for  the   service.     A 
great  many  attemjDt  to  work  for  God  without  any  prepara- 
tion, and  that  is  the  reason  their  work   is  a  faiUire.      We 
find  that  in  the  thirty  years  Jesus   lived  in   Nazareth  He 
did  nothing  remarkable.     We  hear  nothing  of   Him   for 
thirty  years,  and  until  He  was  baptized  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
He  did  nothing  remarkable.     But   when  the   Holy  Ghost 
came  upon  Him  and  anointed  Him  for  the  service  ;  when 
the    Spirit   of   the   Lord   came   upon   Him,   He  began  to 
preach.      It  was    then   His  ministry   commenced.       You 
may  divide  the  church  into  three  classes.     The  first  class 
is  represented  by  Nicodemus,  in  the  3d   chapter  of  John  : 
"There  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees  named  Nicodemus,  a 
ruler  of  the  Jews.     Tlie  same  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and 
said  unto  Him,  '  Rabbi,  we  know  that  Thou  art  a  teacher 
come  from  God  ;  for  no  man   can   do  these  miracles  that 
Thou  doest,  except  God  be  with   him.'      Jesus   answered 
and  said  unto  him,     '  Verily,  verily,  I    say  unto  thee,  ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of   the  Spirit,  he   canrot 
enter  into  the   kingdom  of  God.'      Nicodemus  answered 
and  said  unto  him,    '  How  can  a  man  be  born  again  when 
he  is  old  ?     Can  he  enter  the  second  time  into  his  mother's 
womb  and  be   born  } ' "     These  persons  are   all  the  time 
doubting  God's  willingness  to  do  what  He  promises.  Then  | 
if  we  turn  to  the  4th  chapter  we  find   a  better  class  ;   they 
are  like  the  Samaritan  woman  when  the  love  of  God  began 
to  bubble  up  in  her  heart.     You   all   know  that  water  al- 
ways rises  to  its  own  level  ;  and  so  the   love  of  God  kept 
bubbling  up  in  this  poor  woman's   heart  until   it   reached 
the  Throne  of  God.      She  had  been  blessed,  and  so  she 
spread    the  glad  tidings    wherever   she   went.       Now,    if 
you  will    turn    to  the    7th   chapter  and    37th    verse,   you 


c6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

will  find  a  better  class  yet.  "  In  the  last  day,  that  great 
day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood  and  cri(.d,  saying  :  '  If  any 
man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink.  He  that  be- 
lie veth  on  me  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly 
shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water.'  But  this  spake  He  of 
the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  in  Him  should  receive. 
For  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given;  because  that 
Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified."  Now  if  every  man  had  been 
born  of  the  Spirit;  if  the  Holy  Ghost  had  been  with  them, 
out  of  their  belly,  to  use  the  Scripture  language,  would 
flow  rivers  of  living  water.  Peter  did  not  have  much 
power  until  after  the  Day  of  Pentecost :  he  had  not  be- 
fore that  time  the  power,  he  was  not  anointed  for  the  ser- 
vice, but  when  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon 
him,  what  courage  he  had  to  stand  up  and  preach 
the  Word  of  God.  Now  we  must  get  this  power  be- 
fore we  can  do  much  good  in  the  Church  or  be  of  any 
real  service  to  God.  Now  we  have  two  ways  of  dig- 
ging wells  in  this  country ;  one  is  to  dig  until  you  get  to 
water,  then  you  put  in  a  wooden  well  and  commence 
to  pump  ;  that  is  one  way.  Then  there  is  another  and  a 
better  way.  They  do  not  stop  when  they  get  to  water,  but 
keep  on  digging  until  a  lower  stratum  is  reached.  That  is 
called  an  artesian  well ;  the  water  flows  right  up,  and  there 
is  no  necessity  for  pumping.  •  Now  every  Christian  should 
be  an  artesian  well ;  a  river  of  living  water  should  be  kept 
constantly  flowing  from  the  heart.  When  I  first  started  in 
this  good  work  I  had  to  pump  very  hard  and  I  did  not  get 
much  then  because  the  well  was  dry ;  but  since  I  have  got 
the  Holy  Ghost  I  have  no  trouble  ;  it  flov/s  right  up  ;  all 
I  have  got  to  do  is  to  open  my  mouth  and  it  is  filled.  Now, 
my  friends,  if  we  Christians  could  have  this  same  well  in 
our  hearts  there  will  be  more  work  done  than  there  has 
been  for  years.  When  I  was  in  California  I  noticed  that 
some  farms,  as  it  was  in  the  dry  season,  looked  very  green, 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT'S  POWER,  IV. 


57 


while  a  great  many  in  the  immediate  vicinity  were  all  dried 
up.  My  curiosity  was  aroused  to  know  why  this  was  so, 
and  upon  making  inquiries  I  found  that  those  that  looked 
so  green  had  been  irrigated,  and  that  was  what  made  them 
look  so  fresh  and  green.  You  will  find  a  great  many  pro- 
fessors of  Christianity  all  dried  up.  They  don't  irrigate  ; 
they  have  not  this  river  of  living  water  in  their  hearts.  In 
the  church  to  which  they  belong  you  will  find  upon  making 
an  examination  that  they  have  dead  leaders,  dead  deacons, 
dead  superintendents  and  Sunday  School  teachers ;  they 
are  all  dead  together  ;  they  have  not  die  love  and  power  of 
God  resting  upon  them.  Have  we  got  this  power — this 
river  of  living  water  in  our  hearts  ?  If  we  have  not  we  are 
powerless  to  advance  the  Master's  Kingdom.  When  we 
get  the  power  it  is  easy  to  work  for  God.  While  we  were 
in  Chicago  a  minister  said  to  me,  *'  How  do  we  know  who 
among  this  assembly  are  thirsty?  If  I  should  send  a  lad 
through  the  entire  assembly  with  a  bucket  of  sparkling 
water,  you  would  soon  find  out  who  among  them  were 
thirsty.  The  thirsty  ones  would  all  stretch  out  their  hands 
to  get  a  drink  ;  and  I  don't  know  how  we  will  find  out  who 
are  hungering  and  thirsting  in  this  assembly  unless  we  do 
the  same  thing."  The  idea  struck  me  as  being  a  very  good 
one.  I  think  a  great  many  ministers  go  to  their  people 
with  empty  buckets.  If  we  have  got  any  water  they  will 
soon  find  it  out.  I  believe  there  are  a  great  many  ministers 
carrying  empty  buckets ;  if  we  will  only  fill  them  there  will 
be  no  trouble  but  what  the  people  will  come.  A  story  is 
related  of  a  little  boy  in  a  country  town,  who  could  catch 
pigeons  when  no  other  boy  could  catch  a  single  one,  and 
somebody  asked  him  how  he  did  it;  said  he:  "I  will  tell 
you,  but  I  don't  care  about  anybody  else  knowing  it :  I 
feed  them  well."  That,  my  friends,  is  just  what  we  must 
do,  we  must  feed  them  well.  In  the  2d  chapter  and 
20th  verse    of  John,    we    read:     "Then  said  the   Jews: 


^8  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Forty  and  six  years  was  this  temple  in  building,  and  wilt 
Thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?  "  We  read  in  the  Word  of 
God,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  Now  if  every  man  were 
converted  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  what  a  mighty 
work  would  be  done.  How  many  souls  would  be  led  to 
accept  the  Saviour  ?  Now  let  me  call  your  attention  to 
another  verse.  Turn  back  to  Luke,  24th  chapter  and  49th 
verse,  and  you  read :  "  And  behold,  I  send  the  promise  of 
my  Father  upon  you  :  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high."  Now  He 
had  breathed  upon  them  and  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost."  That  must  have  been  the  second  time  they  re- 
ceived it.  "  Behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father  upon 
you :  but  tarry  ye  in  Jerusalem,  until  ye  be  endued  with 
power  from  on  high."  He  had  breathed  upon  them  and 
said,  ''  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  the}^  had  received 
it,  but  had  not  received  the  anointing  for  service,  and  that 
is  the  trouble  with  the  Christians  of  to-day ;  they  need  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  come  upon  them.  Let  us  see 
if  we  can't  get  it  to-day.  What  the  Christian  Church  needs 
is  to  be  stirred  up.  I  would  rather  be  the  means  under 
God  of  stirring  up  the  Christian  Church  than  of  winning 
100  souls  to  Christ.  If  I  could  stir  up  100  Christians 
and  induce  them  to  seek  this  gift  of  service,  to  get 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  would  result  in  thousands  of 
conversions.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that.  Well,  let 
us  ask  ourselves  the  question  :  "  Has  the  Church  this  gift  t " 
The  disciples  were  ordered  to  tarry  at  Jerusalem  for  ten 
days,  or  until  they  were  imbued  with  power  from  on  high, 
and  at  the  end  of  that  time  the  power  came  and  they  were 
ready  for  God's  service.  The  devil  has  tried  to  blind  you. 
He  does  not  care  how  many  Christians  there  are  in  the 
world  if  they  have  not  got  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
What  we  want  is  to  tarry  at  Jerusalem  till  we  get  this 
power.       In  the  same  chapter  and  in  the  4th   and  33d 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT'S  POWER,  IV.  59 

verses  we  read  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass  as  they  were  much 
perplexed  thereabout,  behold  two  men  stood  by  them  in 
shining  garments."  "  And  they  rose  up  the  same  hour 
and  returned  to  Jerusalem  and  found  the  eleven  gathered 
together,  and  them  that  were  with  them."  The  Word 
says,  "  Repent  ye  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ ! "  Now,  the  office  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  to  convince  of  sin,  and  without  this  power  men 
will  not  be  convinced  or  converted.  The  \\'ord  says, 
Repent  of  your  sins  and  be  baptized  ;  and  until  we  do 
repent  we  cannot  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Now 
we  read  in  the  4th  chapter  of  Acts,  that  Peter  and  John, 
having  been  arrested  and  thrown  into  jDrison,  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  had  a  prayer  -  meeting  there. 
That  was  a  very  good  thing.  And  Vv'hile  they  were  pray- 
ing the  place  was  shaken  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  they  began  to  believe  the  Word  of  God. 
Now  we  find  a  great  many  men  who,  in  years  past,  have 
been  powers  in  the  Church,  but  because  you  were  filled  ten 
years  ago,  it  is  no  sign  you  do  not  need  to  be  filled  again. 
There  were  a  great  many  men  that  had  great  power  ten 
years  ago  that  are  dumb  now.  They  need  a  fresh  anoint- 
ing. There's  a  great  tendency  among  Christians  who  are 
all  the  time  working  for  others  to  forget  that  they  them- 
selves need  a  fresh  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  and  we 
ministers  are  too  apt  to  forget  that  we  too  need  a  fresh 
anointing.  Now  we  found  in  Philadelphia  this  same  spirit, 
but  there  was  a  great  work  done  there,  and  I  hope  there 
will  be  in  Boston.  I  think  we  have  got  enough  Scripture. 
What  we  want  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  want  to 
search"  our  hearts  and  see  if  there  is  any  evil  way  in  us. 
We  v/ant  fresh  power.  A  great  many  men  get  up  in  prayer- 
meeting  and  make  the  same  prayers  that  they  have  made 
for  twenty  years.  I  have  got  tired  of  these  prayerless 
prayers.     They  have  been  made    for  years  till  they  are 


6o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Stereotyped  ;  we  have  got  to  get  hold  of  God  ;  we  have 
got  to  wrestle  mightily  in  pra3^er  until  we  get  the  blessing. 
Now,  when  you  pray  are  your  prayers  indited  by  the  Holy 
Ghost?  Are  you  praying  for  something  which  will  honor 
God,  or  are  you  praying  for  a  selfish  purpose  ?  If  so,  your 
prayers  will  not  be  answered.  The  old  man  must  be 
crucified  and  the  new  man  put  on  before  God  can  use  you. 
Now,  the  question  comes,  "  How  much  of  this  spirit  can 
we  have?"  In  Ephesians,  5th  chapter  and  8th  verse,  we 
read :  "  For  ye  were  sometimes  darkness,  but  now  are  ye 
light  in  the  Lord  ;  walk  as  children  of  light."  Have  you  this 
Spirit  ?  If  so  God  will  work  through  you.  If  we  are  full  of 
the  spirit  of  Christ  there  will  be  no  room  for  jealousy. 
Dignity  and  position  will  be  sunk  out  of  sight.  When  I  went 
over  to  England  to  lecture  I  did  not  understand  much 
about  English  theology.  A  great  many  ministers  were  on  the 
platform, — the  platform  was  full  of  ministers, — and  I  was 
somewhat  embarrassed.  While  I  was  preaching  one  minis- 
ter rested  his  head  on  his  hands,  as  if  he  was  ashamed  of 
my  theology,  and  when  I  got  through  he  got  his  hat  and 
started  for  the  door.  I  thought  I  had  preached  him  out 
of  doors,  and  I  was  sorry  for  it,  for  he  was  a  prominent 
man  and  just  such  a  one  as  I  wanted.  I  preached  again 
the  next  day,  and  he  was  not  there,  and  I  thought  1  never 
should  see  him  any  more.  The  second  day  he  came  into 
the  prayer-meeting  and  told  those  ministers  he  had  been 
preaching  without  the  power.  And  since  he  had  been 
absent  he  had  been  in  his  closet  asking  God  to  forgive  him 
and  to  give  him  the  Holy  Ghost  power.  He  had  con- 
fessed his  sin  and  asked  God  to  give  him  grace.  God 
heard  his  prayer  and  gave  him  the  Spirit.  He  preached 
the  Gospel  that  night  as  he  had  never  preached  before. 
He  told  me  :  "  I  have  preached  but  one  sermon  a  day  for 
some  time."  He  was  troubled  with  heart  disease,  but 
when  the  Holy  Ghost's  power  came  upon  him  his  trouble 


THE  HOL  V  SPIRIT'S  PO IV ER,  IV.  6l 

was  all  gone.  He  told  me  that  he  had  preached  eight 
sermons  a  week,,  and  did  not  feel  so  tired  as  when  he  had 
previously  preached  only  one.  He  had  wonderful  power, 
and  was  the  means  of  bringing  hundreds  of  souls  to  Christ. 
When  we  were  in  Philadelphia  a  lady  said  to  me  :  "  Mr. 
Moody,  can  women  have  this  power  ?  "  I  told  her  I  saw 
no  reason  why  any  one  should  not  have  it  that  wanted  to 
work  for  God.  Women  need  it  as  much  as  men.  "Well," 
said  she,  "  if  I  can  have  it  I  want  it.  I  have  a  husband 
who  is  not  a  Christian.  I  have  also  a  Sabbath  School  class 
and  they  are  unconverted."  A  week  from  that  time  she  came 
to  me  and  said :  "  I  have  got  it.  The  Lord  has  blessed 
me.  My  husband  has  been  converted  and  five  of  my  Sun- 
day School  class."  That  was  the  result  of  that  woman's 
receiving  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  spread  all 
through  the  church  of  which  she  was  a  member,  and  the 
people  seeing  that  she  had  something  which  they  had  not 
got  began  to  inquire,  and  as  a  result  of  the  quickening  of 
that  woman  five  hundred  members  were  added  to  the 
church. 

You  can  tell  a  man  who  is  filled  by  the  Holy  Ghost :  he 
is  all  the  time  talking  about  Christ ;  he  has  nothing  to  say 
of  himself,  but  is  constantly  holding  Jesus  Christ  up  as  an 
all-sufficient  Saviour.  In  concluding  what  was  a  deeply 
interesting  sermon,  Mr.  Moody  related  the  wonderful  story 
of  Elisha  and  Elijah,  claiming  that  as  Elisha  was  permitted 
by  reason  of  his  faith  to  see  Elijah  ascend  up  to  heaven, 
all  Christians,  if  faithful  and  possessed  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  can  see  by  the  eye  of  faith  the  glory  of  God.  Let 
us,  said  he,  pray  God  to  descend  upon  the  churches  of 
Boston,  and  baptize  them  with  His  Holy  Spirit. 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS. 


We  have  for  our  subject  this  morning  the  importance 
of  the  inquiry-meeting.  A  great  many  do  not  understand 
the  object  of  the  inquiry-meeting.  Now,  I  have  noticed 
during  the  past  three  years  we  have  been  engaged  in  this 
special  work  that  it  has  all  been  done  in  the  inquiry-room, 
and  that  those  who  have  been  engaged  in  it  have  not  been 
disappointed.  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  the  first  man  or  wo- 
man who  has  been  into  the  inquiry-room,  and  got  him  or 
herself  right  into  the  heart  of  the  work,  that  was  ever  dis- 
appointed. They  were  not  only  encouraged  while  we  were 
there  in  the  city  or  town  at  work  with  them,  but  they  have 
been  at  work  ever  since,  and  have  not  become  discouraged. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  enemy  of  souls  is  willing  we 
should  work  for  the  Lord  as  much  as  we  are  a  mind  to  if 
we  will  only  dispense  with  this  thing.  We  have  more  op- 
position to  the  inquiry-room,  but  that  is  the  work  which 
God  blesses  the  most.  You  can  always  tell  if  there  is  the 
most  opposition  to  a  work  that  is  the  most  blessed  ;  and  if 
the  devil  had  nothing  to  say  against  it  there  would  be  work 
that  did  not  accomplish  much  for  the  Lord.  But  where 
there  is  actual  work  being  done  and  souls  transferred  from 
the  kingdom  of  Satan  to  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  tlien  there 
will  be  opposition.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  a  few 
passages  to  prove  that  this  inquiry-work  is  really  in  accord 
ance  with  Scripture.  The  preachings  that  do  not  pro- 
duce inquirers  cannot  be  successful  except  when  the  min- 
ister is  building  up  his  flock.  There  are  three  kinds  of 
service,  I  should  say,  that  ought  to  be  held  in  the  church — 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS.  63 

there  is  teaching  ;  there  is  building  up  the  believers  in  faith 
and  in  work  ;  there  is  worship  when  we  come  to  the  Lord's 
table  to  break  bread,  to  commemorate  His  death  and  pro- 
claim the  gospel.  That  is  entirely  distinct  from  preach- 
ing or  teaching.  When  the  gospel  is  proclaimed  [  think 
we  should  look  for  results.  What  would  you  say  t>f  a  man 
who  kept  setting  his  net  for  tish,  but  never  pulled  it  in  to 
see  if  he  had  caught  any.  We  want  to  cast  the  gospel  net 
and  pull  it  in  to  see  if  we  have  caught  anything,  although 
many  men  keep  setting  and  mending  their  nets,  but  never 
pull  them  in  to  see  if  they  have  caught  anything.  Christ 
said  to  Peter,  in  Matthew  iv.  19:  "For  I  will  make  you 
fishers  of  men."  "  I,  God,  will  do  it."  Now  I  do  not  see 
how  men  can  work  for  Christ  and  not  be  successful  in  win- 
ning men  ;  and  if  we  aim  at  that  and  work  for  it,  I  think 
we  will  be  successful.  Of  course  it  needs  tact  and  wisdom. 
"  They  that  are  wise  shall  win  men  to  Christ :  "  "  he  that 
winneth  souls  is  wise,  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness," He  says,  "  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firm- 
ament." "They  that  be  wise  shall  shine."  If  we  are 
really  wise  in  winning  souls  to  Christ  we  cannot  help  but 
shine  in  the  community  where  we  live.  If  there  are  Chris- 
tians who  have  lived  ten  or  fifteen  years  and  never  won 
souls  to  Christ,  there  must  be  something  wrong  with  these 
professed  Christians.  I  should  say  they  ought  to  be  suc- 
cessful if  they  have  a  true  hope.  They  may  have  a  false 
hope.  If  we  have  a  false  hope,  we  cannot  teaeh  others, 
but  if  we  have  a  true  hope,  and  that  is  Christ, — Christ 
formed  in  us, — we  cannot  help  being  successful.  "They 
have  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  speak  one  to  another ;  "  that 
is  the  way  they  do  when  they  have  God  in  their  hearts.  If 
a  man  has  got  Christ  in  his  soul,  he  cannot  keep  from  tell- 
ing the  news.  Let  us  get  into  this  state.  The  first  thing 
almost  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  Christ  after  he  was  bap- 
tized was  to  ask  a  question.     Oh,  how  many  would  get 


64  TO  ALL  PEOPI^E. 

waked  up  by  asking  them  a  question  about  their  soul  r 
They  might  be  waked  from  a  sleep  of  twenty  years.  John 
xxi.  2  1,  says  :  "  '  Peter  seeing  him  saith  to  Jesus,  Lord,  and 
what  shall  this  man  do?'  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  '  If  I  will 
that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  Follow  thou 
Me.'  "  There  was  an  inquiry  by  Peter  and  Christ  answered 
it.  And  this  morning  let  me  call  your  attention  to  a  few 
passages  in  Matthew  alone  to  show  how  He  taught  the 
people  ;  how  He  was  constantly  asking  them  questions  and 
encouraging  them  to  ask  Him  questions,  drawing  out  from 
them  their  thoughts.  There  are  two  ways  of  teaching. 
One  way  is  to  pour  in  knowledge,  and  the  other  is  to  draw 
it  out  and  find  out  what  men  think  of  it.  And  I  think 
sometimes  if  Christians  would  only  be  drawn  out,  if  they 
would  speak  out  their  minds  it  would  be  good  for  them. 
If  I  speak  out  a  man's  name  here  who  is  asleep  and  ask  him 
what  he  thinks  about  this  matter  I  think  he  would  rub  his 
eyes  and  think  anyway.  We  want  people  to  think.  There 
is  no  trouble  if  people  will  stop  to  think.  The  trouble  is 
you  cannot  get  them  to  stop  long  enough  to  think  and  to  ask 
questions  about  God's  word.  For  instance,  John's  preach- 
ing we  will  glance  at  before  we  turn  to  Matthew.  People 
inquire  what  do  you  say  in  the  inquir3^-room  t  What  do  you 
do  ?  And  they  come  and  peek  in  as  if  we  had  something 
on  exhibition,  as  if  there  was  something  strange  and  myste- 
rious ;  and  the  people  asked  him,  "  What  shall  we  do  there  ?  " 
That  is  tUe  inquiry,  "  What  shall  we  do  there  ?  "  That  was 
while  John  was  preaching  upon  the  banks  of  the  Jordan — a 
very  prince  of  preachers.  And  you  remember  his  answer, 
what  he  said  about  the  publicans.  Now  the  publicans 
were  considered  in  those  days  the  very  worst  kind  of  men, 
nearly  as  bad  as  our  rumsellers  of  the  present  time.  They 
did  not  like  so  many  taxes  ;  they  were  public  thieves  ;  they 
"were  like  some  men  who  take  money  from  the  government. 
Some  men  think  it  is  no  sin  to  steal  from  the  government ; 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS. 


6S 


but  if  from  individuals,  that  is  a  great  sin,  and  he  gives 
them  some  good  advice.  "  Exact  no  more  taxes."  Now 
people  want  to  know  what  we  do  in  the  inquiry-room.  We 
give  inquirers  good  advice.  We  tell  them  what  to  do  for 
their  souls.  Sometimes  men  get  so  entangled  in  the  devil's 
net  that  they  don't  know  how  to  get  out,  and  we  tell  them 
just  what  to  do.  If  there  are  any  that  do  I  think  the  best 
thing  is  for  them  to  talk  with  some  Christian  man  or 
woman  that  has  passed  through  the  same  experience,  and 
therefore  can  help  them.  While  you  are  preaching  a 
sermon  you  may  pass  over  all  the  difficulties,  while  in  five, 
ten,  or  fifteen  minutes'  conversation  you  may  help  them 
out  of  their  difficulty.  What  would  you  say  of  a  doctor 
who  ne\-er  went  to  see  his  patients,  but  stayed  in  his  office 
and  sent  them  only  one  kind  of  medicine.  You  would  say 
that  man  would  never  be  successful  ;  he  would  not  have 
many  p.itients ;  in  fact,  he  could  not  be  successful.  But 
when  you  are  sick  you  want  a  doctor  to  call  and  feel  of  your 
pulse  and  look  at  your  tongue,  and  inquire  all  about  the 
disease  and  get  the  facts,  and  then  he  knows  vv'hat  kind 
of  medicines  to  adaiinister.  It  is  just  so  with  our  souls. 
We  want  to  know  the  soul's  condition. 

Some  are  troubled  with  infideUty  ;  others  don't  have 
that  trouble.  Others  have  skepticism  ;  others  are  doubting 
all  the  while,  and  some  persons  have  been  dishonest  and 
don't  know  how  to  make  restitution.  Oihers  have  this  and 
that  difficulty,  and  don't  know  just  how  to  get  out  of  these 
difficuUies.  If  they  could  have  a  private  talk  with  some 
man  of  God,  some  Christian,  who  would  be  able  to  help 
them,  their  trouble  would  disappear  in  a  very  few  minutes. 
I  have  noticed  th:it  very  few  people  are  converted  under 
the  sermon.  They  may  be  impressed  by  it,  but  generally 
very  few  accept  Christ  during  the  sermon.  But  if  after 
the  sermon,  you  have  a  second  meeting  and  talk  with  tliem 
personally,  then  you  can  accomplish  something.     I  think 

S 


66  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

there  may  be  hundreds  to  whom,  if  I  put  the  qi  estion  this 
morning  and  asked  them — Christian  people  won  to  Christ 
— if  it  was  not  through  the  influence  of  some  man  or  woman 
— perhaps  a  sower  and  reaper  together,  and  one  sowed 
and  another  helped  him  reap  ;  it  may  have  been  the  mothei 
sowed  the  seed  for  years  together  and  the  man  found  and 
reaped  it.  I  think  they  would  say  they  were  led  to  Christ 
by  personal  effort.  If  you  put  the  question  you  will  fmd 
that  some  individual  effort  brought  about  their  conver- 
sion. Some  one  individual  coming  to  them  personally  led 
them  to  Christ.  I  think,  the  churches  are  making  a  great 
mistake  to-day,  that  their  members  are  not  trained  to  do 
this  kind  of  work.  If  the  ministers  drive  the  nail,  let  the 
church  members  try  to  clinch  it ;  let  them  strike  while  the 
iron  is  hot.  If  the  spirit  of  God  comes  down  and  men  bow 
down  in  their  consciousness  of  sin  it  will  take  every  effort 
right  there  on  the  spot  to  get  them  to  acknowledge  their 
conviction,  and  a  Christian  can  tell  them  how  to  be 
saved  right  there,  and  never  wait  until  they  have  left 
the  building.  In  Matthew  xi.  3,  we  find  the  disciples  ot 
John  coming  to  Christ  inquiring.  They  were  sent  by  John 
the  Baptist  to  inquire  of  him  if  he  was  the  true  Messiah. 
He  did  not  send  them  to  some  philosopher  or  to  some  in- 
dividuals, but  right  to  the  Master  himself.  And  they  said 
unto  him,  "  Art  thou  He  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look 
for  another.?''  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them, 
"  Go  and  show  John  again  these  things  which  ye  do  heai 
and  see."  You  go  back  and  tell  them  the  poor  have  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them.  "  The  blind  receive  their  sight, 
the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the 
dead  are  raised  up  and  the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached 
to  them."  They  told  it  to  John,  and  he  knew  it  was  the 
Old  Testament  verified.  If  a  man  is  in  trouble  about  Christ, 
we  can  pray  with  him  and  ask  the  spirit  to  reveal  these 
things,  if  they  will  but  be  willing.    The  trouble  is  their  going 


SEKMOiY  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS.  67 

off  to  officers  and  to  the  world  instead  of  to  Christ, — to 
this  man  and  that  man, — but  they  will  not  be  led  to  the 
Lord  Himself  and  ask  Him  to  give  them  wisdom.  I  have 
not  found  the  first  instance  of  a  sinner  going  to  God  in  the 
right  spirit  and  not  knowing  what  he  should  do  to  be  saved. 
They  won't  ask  for  the  law  or  for  wisdom,  but  for  most 
everything  else.  They  like  to  get  into  an  argument,  but  are 
not  willing  to  go  right  to  the  Lord  and  ask  Him  for  light. 
If  there  is  a  Jew  here  this  morning  that  will  ask  the  God 
of  Isaac,  of  Moses,  and  of  Abraham  whether  He  was  the 
true  Messiah  or  not  He  will  do  it.  In  the  loth  of  Mat- 
thew, where  the  man  had  got  the  withered  hand,  they  were 
come  to  ask  Christ  whether  it  was  lawful  to  heal  this  man 
on  the  Sabbath  day.  But  Christ  was  a  match  for  them  and 
the  Bible  is  a  match  for  all  infidels  ;  that  is  the  reason  so 
many  Christians  are  overcome  by  infidels  because  they  do  not 
know  their  Bibles  well  enough.  See  what  they  asked  about 
this  man  then  with  the  withered  hand.  Whether  it  is  lawful 
or  not  to  heal  him  on  that  day.  Mark  what  Christ  answered. 
And  He  said  unto  them,  "  What  man  shall  there  be 
among  you  that  shall  have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into  a 
pit  on  the  Sabbath  day,  will  he  not  lay  hold  of  it  and  lift 
it  out  ?  How  much  then  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep  ? 
Wherefore  it  is  lawful  to  do  w^ell  on  the  Sabbath  days." 
And  the  Lord  said,  "  Stretch  out  thy  hand."  And  with 
that  command  the  man  got  the  power  and  out  came  the  with- 
ered hand.  They  could  not  say  anything,  they  knew  that 
if  they  had  an  ox  or  an  ass,  and  it  fell  into  a  pit,  they 
would  get  it  out,  if  it  was  the  Sabbath  day.  And  here  is 
one  of  Adam's  sons  bound  by  a  devil  and  the  Lord  de- 
livered him  on  the  Sabbath  day.  They  could  not  say 
anything  against  that.  Bring  your  hard  questions  to 
Christ  and  He  will  answer  them,  Look  at  Matthew  xiii. 
36-39  ;  "Then  Jesus  sent  the  multitude  away  and  went  into 
the  house  :  and    His    disciples  came  unto   Him,  saying ; 


68  TO  ALL  PEOPLE, 

»  Declare  unto  us  the  parable  of  the  tares  of  the  field.* 
He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  '  He  that  soweth 
the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  Man  ;  the  field  is  the  world ; 
the  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom ;  but 
the  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked  one  ;  The  enemy 
that  soweth  them  is  the  devil  ;  the  harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world  ;  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels. '  "  He  always 
calls  people  by  their  right  names.  When  He  spoke  of 
hell  it  was  hell,  and  when  he  spoke  of  heaven  it  was 
heaven,  and  when  He  spoke  of  the  devil  it  was  the  devil. 
Let  us  call  things  by  their  right  names.  Sin  is  sin.  Let 
us  not  try  to  cover  up  these  things.  "  The  enemy 
that  soweth  them  is  the  devil."  Now  the  enemy  that 
soweth  the  tares  is  busy  at  work  in  Boston,  sowing  day 
and  night.  People  say  that  the  preaching  is  so  plain  that 
they  do  not  need  any  inquiry-room.  Now  Christ  had 
been  preaching  Himself,  and  yet  His  disciples  did  not  un- 
derstand— they  inquired  of  Him.  Ministers  do  not  preach 
plain  enough.  Their  sermons  are  too  foggy.  I  think 
nine-tentlis  of  the  sermons  are  lost  because  they  are  not 
plain.  We  believe  people  understand  spiritual  things 
when  they  don't.  We  want  men  to  expound  the  Word. 
It  is  not  sermons  we  want  so  much  as  to  make  the  Word 
of  God  plain,  and  get  people  built  up,  then  they  will 
know  where  they  stand.  Christ  had  been  preaching,  but 
the  people  could  not  understand  and  so  they  came  and 
got  an  explanation.  Just  look  at  the  13th  chapter 
and  51st  verse.  There  you  will  find  that  He  encour- 
ages them.  "  Jesus  saith  unto  them  :  '  Have  ye  under- 
stood all  these  things?'  They  say  unto  Him,  'Yea, 
Lord  ! '  "  I  wonder  what  some  people  would  say  if  you 
asked  them  if  they  understood  some  sermons  they  hear. 
I  think  if  they  were  honest  about  it  they  would  say,  "  No; 
I  have  not  understood  a  word."  Perhaps  they  have  been 
transacting  business  in  their  heads  while  the  minister  was 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS.  69 

pleaching — thinking  about  getting  a  situation.  Now, 
after  the  Lord  had  been  teaching  He  said  :  "  Have  you 
understood  ?  "  and  they  answered,  "  Yea,  Lord  !  "  But 
before  long  they  came  and  wanted  to  have  Him  restate 
it,  and,  perhaps,  put  it  a  little  plainer.  Now  the  point  I 
want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this :  We  should  be  will- 
ing to  expose  our  ignorance.  I  believe  that  it  is  keeping 
hundreds  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  assume  to 
know  a  great  deal  more  than  they  do  know,  and  think  if 
they  ask  for  knowledge  they  will  be  exposing  their  igno- 
rance. What  have  we  got  to  do  to  understand  spiritual 
things  ?  We  have  got  to  become  like  a  little  child.  His 
Word  says,  "  Unless  ye  become  a  little  child  ye  cannot 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  We  call  young  Christians 
converts  ;  but  they  were  always  called  disciples — that  is, 
learners — in  olden  days :  "  Learn  of  me."  And  if  we 
only  get  down  from  our  high  position  and  be  willing  to  let 
Jesus  teach  us,  to  lie  at  His  feet,  we  will  get  a  great  many 
heavenly  truths,  and  we  shall  not  know  Christ  until  we  be- 
come as  little  children.  Men  have  been  the  same  in  every 
generation.  Matthew  xii.  15,  says:  "Then  came  His 
disciples  and  said  unto  him;  'Knowest  Thou  that  the  Phar- 
isees were  offended  after  they  heard  these  sayings  t '  But 
He  answered  and  said  :  '  Every  plant  which  my  Heavenly 
Father  hath  not  planted  shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them 
alone  ;  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  And  if  the 
blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  pit.'  Then 
answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  him :  '  Declare  unto  us 
this  parable.'  "  Now  there  was  a  disciple  asking  a  ques- 
tion, and  that  is  the  difference  between  the  disciples  of 
Christ  and  the  world.  A  great  many  of  the  world  come 
to  God  and  only  ask  for  light,  but  those  that  are  willing 
to  be  disciples,  they  come  and  ask ;  and  if  a  man  will  ask 
in  his  soul  of  God  He  will  give  light  and  he  will  find  out 
what  tht^  Scripture  means.       I  wish  I  had  time  to  take  up 


70 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


all  these  passages,  but  you  will  find  in  one  Gospel  over  and 
over  again  that  they  were  constantly  coming  to  Him,  ask 
ing  Him  questions.  As  in  Matthew  xvii.  lo,  ii,  12  ; 
"  And  His  disciples  asked  Him,  saying,  'Why,  then,  say  the 
scribes  that  Elias  must  first  come  ? '  And  Jesus  answered 
and  said  unto  them,  '  Elias  truly  shall  first  come  and  restore 
all  things.  But  I  say  unto  you  that  Elias  is  come  already, 
and  they  knew  him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him  whatsoever 
they  listed.  Likewise  shall  also  the  Son  of  Man  suffer  of 
them.'  "  In  the  same  chapter  they  came  again  and  they  were 
asking  him  questions  all  the  time.  "  Howbeit  this  kind 
goeth  not  out  but  by  prayer  and  fasting."  Now  they  tried 
to  cast  out  the  devil  but  were  unsuccessful.  And  they 
asked  Christ  why  they  were  unsuccessful. 

We  pray  for  unconverted  friends  and  our  prayers  are 
not  answered.  We  inquire  what  it  means  ?  Why  does  God 
not  answer  our  prayers  .''  Have  an  inquiry-meeting  at  once. 
Don't  stop  !  but  get  at  the  things  that  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
your  trouble.  There  will  be  some  reason  apparent.  This 
man  went  right  to  the  Master  and  said,  "  Howbeit  ?  "  Then 
take  Christ's  conversation  with  Nicodemus.  A  great  many 
are  willing  to  preach  to  two,  three  or  four  hundred  people  ; 
a  great  many  are  ready  to  jump  up  and  talk  to  a  large  as- 
sembly and  speak  at  young  men's  meetings,  but  how  few 
there  are  ready  to  sit  down  and  talk  to  one  single  soul.  I 
have  yet  to  find  a  successful  worker  that  looks  above  that 
kind  of  work.  Men  that  are  unwilling  to  sit  down  with  other 
people  and  converse  with  a  soul  are  unsuccessful  preachers 
in  my  estimation.  Here  is  the  prince  of  preachers  preaching 
to  Nicodemus  a  most  wonderful  sermon,  the  great  sermon 
on  regeneration,  and  it  has  been  coming  down  through 
all  the  ages.  Look  how  He  talked  with  the  Samaritan 
woman  at  the  well !  Look  at  the  Gospel  of  John  and  see 
the  people  that  had  personal  interviews  with  Him  !  He  was 
not  ashamed  to  sit  and  talk  with  them,  to  talk  with  our  soul 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS.  71 

and  if  we  are  going  to  be  successful  we  must  have  hand  to 
hand  work,  singling  out  some  one  person  at  a  time  and  pre- 
senting to  them  the  truths  of  the  Bible.  I  can  imagine  you 
saying :  ''  If  Christ  was  here  in  person  I  would  be  willing 
to  go  and  ask  Him  questions,  but  He  is  not  here  and  how 
am  I  to  do  it  ? "  A  great  many  say,  "  Now  He  is  not  here 
we  cannot  expect  to  have  these  questions  answered." 
Look  at  this !  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  3000  men  cried 
out  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  And  really  I  sup- 
pose they  broke  up  that  meeting.  I  wish  that  we  could 
have  a  sample  of  it.  I  wish  that  we  could  have  some  meet- 
ing broken  up  here  in  the  Tabernacle  by  400  or  500  per- 
sons jumping  up  and  shouting,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ?  "  That  is  what  we  preach  for,  to  produce  inquirers. 
To  have  men  ask  the  question,  "What  must  they  do  to  be 
saved?"  and  if  any  do  not  inquire,  it  seems  to  me  the 
Word  has  not  been  preached  faithfully.  [At  this  point  the 
preacher  observed  several  ushers  trying  to  revive  a  fainting 
man  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  building,  and  ob- 
served :  "  If  the  man  has  fainted,  take  him  out  in  the  air, 
while  we  sing  the  103d  hymn,  "There  is  a  Fountain  filled 
with  Blood."  This  was  done,  and  the  preacher  proceeded 
with  his  discourse.]  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  one 
or  two  more  passages,  showing  that  not  only  when  Christ 
was  here  were  questions  answered,  but  after  He  had  as- 
cended on  high. 

There  is  Philip  of  Samaria.  There  was  a  great  revival 
and  the  Lord  calls  him  away  from  that,  while  there  were 
hundreds  being  saved,  and  out  into  the  wilderness.  What 
for.?  Just  to  tell  that  one  honest  inquirer.  The  man  had 
gone  up  to  Jerusalem  from  a  foreign  land  to  inquire  about 
the  Lord,  to  seek  salvation  for  his  soul.  But  the  priest  and 
the  whole  Sanhedrim  could  not  tell  him.  You  see  the  blind 
cannot  lead  the  blind.  And  the  poor  man  turned  away  to 
Jerusalem.     The  Lord  said  to  Philip,    "  You  go  down  and 


72  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

tell  him  what  to  do  to  be  saved."  And  as  he  was  riding 
along  the  highway  Philip  met  him  and  found  him  reading 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah ;  but  he  said  to  Philip,  "  How  can 
I  understand  it  if  I  do  not  have  some  one  to  explain  it  to 
me  ?  "  So  Philip  undertook  to  explain  it  to  him.  The  man 
had  got  through  the  sixth  verse  on  to  the  seventh,  where 
it  says,  "  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  He  was 
bruised  for  our  iniquities,  etc."  He  had  got  along  to  where 
it  says,  "  All  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone  astray."  And  we 
are  told  that  Philip  preached  Christ  right  there  to  him. 
He  held  out  the  doctrine  of  substitution,  how  Christ  was  to 
save.  He  took  this  very  passage  and  explained  its  mean- 
ing, and  this  poor  eunuch  was  saved  and  believed  the  Word. 
We  find  that  Christ  was  a  preacher  Himself — that  He  came 
out  of  heaven.  To  Saul  He  said,  "  Saul,  why  persecutest 
thou  Me  ?"  Ananias  had  the  unspeakable  privilege  of  tell- 
ing Saul  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved,  and  his  name  has 
come  down  1800  years  and  has  been  associated  with  the 
appeal  to  Saul.  What  a  privilege  it  is  to  lead  a  soul  to 
Christ.  You  may  have  a  Sunday  School  and  not  win  a 
soul.  You  may  preach  and  not  win  any,  and  work  and 
work,  and  your  name  will  be  forgotten  and  your  work  a 
failure.  It  seems  to  me  if  a  man  but  leads  one  soul  to 
Christ  that  one  may  lead  hundreds,  and  these  hundreds 
thousands,  and  these  thousands  tens  of  thousands,  and  the 
current  keeps  widening  and  sweeping  on  as  long  as  time 
lasts.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  used  for  God  to  turn  one 
to  Him.  Now  Cornelius  was  in  trouble,  and  it  was  so 
important  that  the  Lord  sent  an  angel  to  tell  Simon  Peter 
to  si)eak  to  Cornelius  of  the  means  whereby  he  should  be 
saved,  and  Peter  went  thirty  miles  and  told  Cornelius  iiow 
to  be  saved.  It  is  so  important  that  God  sends  clear 
out  of  heaven  so  that  Cornelius  may  be  told  what  he  must 
do  to  be  saved.  Shall  we  be  ashamed  if  we  do  not  know 
the  way  to  ask  ?     If  I  lost  my  way  in   Boston  I   certainly 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS.  73 

should  be  very  proud  if  I  did  not  ask  some  one.  People 
have  said,  "  Who  are  the  best  to  work  in  the  inquiry-room  ?  " 
I  answer  those  that  know  the  way.  If  I  lost  my  way  and 
I  asked  a  philosopher  and  he  could  not  tell  me,  or  a  police- 
man and  he  could  not  tell  me,  any  bootblack  would  be  just 
the  one,  if  he  knew,  to  tell  me.  I  would  want  to  know  the 
way,  and  if  a  man  does  not  know  the  way  he  would  not  be 
any  good  to  direct  me.  A  man  in  London  went  to  one  of 
the  fountains  in  the  street  that  had  a  secret  spring,  but  did 
not  know  how  to  operate  it.  Another  man  tried  to  help  him 
find  it,  but  he  had  not  been  there  before  and  he  could  not 
help  him.  By  and  by  a  little  bootblack  came  up  and  put  his 
thumb  on  the  spring  and  the  water  came  gushing  out.  He 
had  been  there,  you  see.  You  can  tell  a  man  how  to  get  at 
the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life,  if  you  know  the  way,  and 
they  may  drink  and  have  eternal  life.  And  let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  this  work  in  Boston  during  the  next  three  months, 
the  real  heart  and  marrow  of  the  work,  is  to  be  done  in  the 
inquiry-room.  It  is  not  to  come  out  here  and  hear  sermons 
and  singing.  We  want  doers  of  the  Word.  We  want  men 
to  bring  their  Bibles  with  them  and  all  through  the  meetings 
to  be  on  the  look-out  to  see  if  a  man  is  embarrassed  and 
if  he  is  personally  bowed  down  in  sin,  and  to  speak  a  few- 
kind  words  to  such,  and  to  tell  them  how  to  look  to  Christ 
and  be  saved,  and  to  pray  with  them  :  and  that  work  shall 
be  for  eternity.  It  is  a  privilege  that  God  gives  us  of  win- 
ning souls  to  Christ  in  the  next  three  months,  because 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  abroad,  and  that  is  the  time  to  work 
when  the  minds  of  men  are  agitated.  It  is  easy  to  get  into 
conversation  with  men  now.  Never  mind  the  meet- 
ings, get  them  to  talk  on  personal  questions  ;  ask  them  if 
they  will  have  Christ  and  tell  them  of  Christ.  They  may 
be  mad,  but  it  will  keep  rankling  in  their  minds,  and  per- 
haps before  they  get  it  out  of  their  hearts  they  will  be 
saved.     A  man  came  into  one  of  our  meetings  to  whom  I 


74  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

spoke,  and  he  went  off  mad,  and  said  he  would  never 
come  in  again.  He  said  :  "  What  right  had  Mr.  Moody  to 
ask  me  that  ?  It  is  none  of  his  business.  What  right  had 
he  to  put  such  a  question  as  that  to  me  ? "  Well,  he  went 
talking  to  a  person  who  had  been  a  very  cold  Christian, 
but  she  loved  his  soul,  and  she  said  :  "  I  do  not  know,  but 
I  think  it  is  a  very  proper  and  a  very  appropriate  question." 
The  man  went  to  bed,  mad  as  he  could  be,  and  got  a  ticket 
next  morning  for  the  theatre  to  go  that  evening  ;  but  before 
night  came  he  was  around  to  the  meeting  again.  He 
could  not  get  that  question  out  of  his  mind,  "Are  you  a 
Christian  1  "  He  came  into  the  inquiry-room  and  he  was  con- 
verted. Let  us  ask  the  people  that  question,  "Are  you  a 
Christian  ? "  Let  us  come  here  not  to  enjoy  these  meet- 
ings, but  to  get  inquirers  ;  and  if  we  cannot  get  men  into 
the  inquiry-room,  let  us  speak  with  them  here,  and,  if  need 
be,  go  home  with  them,  and  down  to  the  man's  house ;  have 
an  inquiry-meeting  on  the  street,  under  the  gas-lights,  or 
in  his  place  of  business.  To-day  in  your  Sabbath  School 
class,  in  your  church,  your  prayer-meeting,  wherever  you 
go  and  can  find  a  lost  soul,  talk  to  it  and  try  to  win  it  to 
Christ.  I  have  found  for  years  that  very  few  men  get 
angry  with  you  if  you  come  to  them  in  the  right  spirit.  I 
•have  made  it  a  rule  for  many  years,  and  I  have  found  it  a 
great  help  to  me  not  to  let  a  day  pass  without  talking  to 
somebody  about  their  soul,  and  that  is  keeping  my  own 
heart  warm.  Supposing  every  Christian  here  to-day  would 
do  that,  how  many  would  hear  the  gospel  during  the  year 
1877.  I  doubt  whether  there  would  be  a  man  or  woman 
in  Boston  who  would  not  receive  the  question  "Are  you  a 
Christian  ?  "  It  seems  to  me  that  we  make  a  great  mistake 
if  we  do  not  do  what  we  can  to  sow  the  seed  and  gather  the 
harvest.  There  was  a  man  condemned  to  be  hung  once, 
and  many  Christians  were  anxious  to  get  in  and  talk  to 
him   about  his  soul.      At  last,  the  man  said:    "If  these 


SERMON  TO  CHRISTIAN  IVOR.vERS. 


75 


Christians  had  taken  one-half  the  interest  in  me  before  I 
had  committed  this  deed,  I  would  not  have  to  be  hung." 
We  want  to  take  an  interest  in  people  to  show  that  we  love 
them,  that  we  desire  to  take  them  to  God,  and  if  men  find 
out  that  our  motives  are  pure  and  that  we  have  no  selfish 
ends  in  view — why  they  will  believe  in  us.  They  will  see 
when  we  take  interest  in  them,  and  believe  us  when  we 
tell  them  we  are  looking  out  for  the  welfare  of  their  souls. 
They  will  believe  we  are  their  best  friends,  and  are  not 
doing  anything  to  harm  them,  but  are  looking  after  their 
soul's  interest.  And  may  God  give  us  the  heart  for  the 
work,  and  may  we  not  be  ashamed  to  own  up  that  we  do 
notknow  all  spiritual  things,  but  be  willing  to  ask  for  our 
own  information,  and  ask  others,  and  pray  for,  and  with 
another,  and  may  the  Lord  bless  us.     Let  us  pray. 


DAVID'S  PRAYER— HIS  CONFESSION. 


I  WILL  read  the  51st  Psalm.  This  psalm  is  the  prayer  ol 
a  wanderer  coming  back  to  God.  This  prayer  was  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  David  after  Nathan  had  crossed  his 
path  and  reproved  him  of  his  sin.  You  will  notice  in  this 
prayer  that  he  was  praying  for  himself,  not  for  his  subjects, 
not  for  his  kingdom,  not  for  family,  but  had  come  home  to 
himself. 

"  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  thy 
lovingkindness  ;  according  unto  the  multitude  of  thy  tender 
mercies  blot  out  my  transgressions.  Wash  me  thoroughly 
from  mine  iniquity,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin.  For  I  ac- 
knowledge my  transgressions  :  and  my  sin  is  ever  before  me." 
We  must  commence  with  our  own  hearts.  God  wants 
truth  there.  It  is  not  people  who  are  making  outward 
profession  and  yet  living  out  of  communion  with  God  that 
are  going  to  accomplish  much.  God  wants  us  really.  He 
looks  down  into  our  hearts,  and  He  wants  truth  there.  We 
cannot  improve  upon  Him  ;  we  cannot  deceive  Him.  If 
we  attempt  to  wash  ourselves  we  shall  make  very  poor  work 
of  it ;  what  we  want  is  for  God  to  wash  us,  and  then  we 
will  be  clean.  We  must  let  God  cleanse  us;  that  is  His 
work.  I  think  if  you  would  look  through  this  Psalm  you 
would  be  wonderfully  impressed  with  the  thought  of  how 
often  He  refers  to  himself^"  Me."  "  Mine  ;  "  thirty-three 
times  He  speaks  of  himself  in  these  nineteen  verses.  "  Have 
mercy  on  me,  forgive  me,  blot  out  my  transgressions."  It 
is  hard  for  us  to  get  home  to  ourselves ;  it  is  easy  for  us  to 
confess  the  sins  of  others  and  of  the  Church ;  it  is  easy  for 
us  to  see  the  sins  of  other  people,  but  to  get  down  to  the 
personal  is  hard.  If  we  are  2:oing  to  have  a  real  thorough 
76 


DAVID'S  PRAYER— HIS  CONFESSION.  77 

M'ork  in  Boston,  it  must  begin  with  God's  own  people  ;  to 
take  the  ministers  and  deacons  first,  and  then  go  down  lo 
the  pews.  God  is  not  going  over  a  cold,  dead  Church  to 
reach  the  world.  If  there  should  be  a  revival  and  many 
conversions,  and  the  Church  not  quickened,  it  would  not 
mean  much.  The  standard  of  the  Church  is  so  low  now 
that  it  does  not  mean  much  ;  it  is  easy  to  be  a  professed 
Christian.  We  must  elevate  the  standard  of  Christianity. 
That  is  the  reason  why  so  many  of  our  prayers  go  unan- 
swered, because  we  are  not  right  ourselves.  While  David 
was  living  in  sin  with  Uriah's  wife  he  might  have  prayed  in  a 
formal  way,  but  his  prayers  were  of  no  avail,  for  he 
was  not  penitent.  If  there  are  any  sins  that  we  committed 
long  ago  and  have  not  repented,  do  you  think  God  is 
going  to  forgive  us  or  answer  our  prayers  ?  If  there  is  any 
sin  in  our  souls  committed  years  ago  and  never  repented, 
let  us  confess  and  repent  it;  off  with  the  arm  or  out  with 
the  eye.  My  experience  is  that  the  work  among  the  uncon- 
verted is  in  proportion  to  the  work  in  the  Church.  But  if  it 
is  superficial  with  us  and  does  not  take  hold  of  us  and  go 
down  deep  in  our  hearts,  and  if  we  have  not  had  tender 
consciences  and  have  not  dealt  honestly  with  God,  the  work 
is  superficial.  Now,  if  the  work  in  Boston  is  superficial  it 
w  ill  be  because  we  Christians  are  not  right  ourselves  ;  and 
if  you  can  find  ten  Christians  that  are  right  with  God  and 
the  word  is  deep  down  in  their  own  hearts,  and  their  con- 
sciences are  tender,  and  they  are  loathing  sin  and  turning 
away  from  all  sin,  you  will  find  God  will  take  up  those  ten 
and  use  them.  Some  one  has  said,  it  is  one  of  the  sweet- 
est thoughts  that  I  have  heard  for  some  time,  that  God  al- 
ways uses  the  vessel  that  has  called  on  God.  Now  what 
we  want  is  to  get  over  to  God  himself.  I  would  not  think 
of  introducing  a  man  two  or  three  blocks  off  ;  it  would  be  a 
stranije  thins:  for  me  to  introduce  a  man  two  or  three  hun- 
dred  yards  off  to  analier  man.     The  first  thing  is  to  draw 


78  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

near  to  God.  Instead  of  praying  for  the  unconverted  now, 
let  us  see  that  we  get  right ;  get  near  God,  and  then  we  are 
right.  I  have  yet  to  find  a  Christian  or  a  church  that  is 
full  of  gloom  or  despondency  that  God  uses.  "  Restore 
unto  me  the  joy  of  Thy  salvation."  If  we  can  show  that  we 
have  got  something  the  world  has  not  got,  it  will  not  be 
long  before  they  are  after  it.  They  are  always  after  some- 
thing they  haven't  got.  I  believe  these  long-faced  Chris- 
tians have  done  more  to  retard  the  faith  of  Christ  than  any 
other  thing.  Men  have  gone  through  the  world  with  long 
faces  and  with  wrinkles  on  their  brows  as  if  God  was  a  hard 
master.  The  reason  we  have  got  so  many  gloomy  Chris- 
tians is  because  some  sin  has  been  committed  and  been 
covered  up  ;  God  has  not  covered  it  up  ;  if  He  had  it  would 
be  all  right ;  but  we  have  covered  it  up,  and  therefore  there 
is  a  guilty  conscience  and  there  is  no  real  communion  be- 
tween us  and  God,  and  the  world  says  "if  that  is  Christian- 
ity I  hope  we  will  be  delivered  from  it,"  and  [  don't  blame 
them.  Now  that  is  not  Christianity  with  Christ  because  He 
brings  joy — "  Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation  ;  and 
uphold  me  with  thy  free  spirit,  then  will  I  teach  transgressors 
thy  ways  and  sinners  shall  be  converted  unto  thee."  What 
we  want  is  to  have  the  joy  of  God's  salvation.  Restore  to  us  a 
joyful  church.  You  let  this  building  be  filled  with  young 
converts  ;  you  see  how  their  faces  shine,  for  they  have  a 
new  song  in  their  mouths  and  joy  in  their  hearts.  What 
is  the  trouble,  what  has  caused  this  great  joy  ?  It  is  because 
Christ  has  taken  full  possession  of  their  hearts  and  they 
have  turned  away  from  their  sins.  Now,  can  we  live  in 
that  first  love  all  the  time  ?  I  have  no  sympathy  with 
people  talking  about  their  experiences  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago  when  they  were  converted,  and  how  they  loved 
the  Lord  then.  The  idea  of  loving  the  Lord  more  during 
the  first  year  than  in  the  twentieth  !  My  wife,  I  think, 
would  think  it  a  very  strange  feeling  if   I  should  tell  her  I 


DA  VID'S  FKA  YER—HIS  CONFESSION: 


79 


loved  her  more  the  first  year  we  were  married  than  I  do 
now.  It  would  break  her  heart.  I  think  the  last  year  was 
the  best ;  and  these  people  living  on  that  dead  experience 
and  on  that  dead  stale  manna  that  they  got  back  in  the 
wilderness  ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  have  not 
healthy  food.  What  we  want  is  a  daily  spring  drawing 
nearer  to  God  all  the  time  ;  our  song  ought  to  be,  "  Nearer 
my  Gud  to  Thee."  What  we  want  is  to  have  the  joy  of 
His  salvation.  Nehemiah  says,  "  The  joy  of  the  Lord  is 
my  strength,  and  God  can  use  me."  "  Restore  unto  me 
the  joy  of  thy  salvation."  When  we  have  got  sin  out  of 
the  way  and  God  has  restored  to  us  the  joy  of  His  salva- 
tion, He  will  open  our  lips  and  we  will  talk  aright,  and 
there  will  be  power  in  what  we  say  ;  He  will  tell  us  what 
to  say.  How  many  times  have  you  heard  men  talk  and  talk 
and  yet  say  nothing,  and  you  have  been  glad  when  they 
have  sat  down,  because  there  was  no  power  at  all  in  what 
they  said — their  hearts  were  not  right  with  God  !  But  when 
the  sin  has  all  been  put  away  and  God  has  restored  the  joy 
of  His  salvation,  then  He  will  open  our  lips  and  He  will 
teach  us  what  to  say  ;  there  will  be  nothing  foolish  then — 
He  will  give  us  just  the  words  for  the  people.  Oh,  may  God 
open  our  lips !  That  is  what  we  want.  Let  us  remember 
that  the  Lord  of  Heaven  can  teach  us  what  to  say  in  all  these 
meetings  and  how  to  say  it.  "A  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart."  That  is  what  we  want" — a  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart."  I  remember  a  minister  getting  up  at  one  of  the  meet- 
ings where  we  were  and  saying  that  for  months  he  had  had  a 
barren  time,  no  blessing  under  his  ministry,  and  he  could  not 
rest,  and  because  of  this  he  had  been  greatly  troubled,  and 
one  Sunday  he  preached  and  it  seemed  as  if  he  was  beat- 
ing against  the  air,  as  if  his  words  all  came  back  to  him  and 
didn't  reach  down  among  the  hearts  of  the  people  ;  there 
didn't  seem  to  be  anyone  moved  under  his  ministry,  and  he 
said  one  morning  he  went  to  his  study,  and  his  heart  was 


8o  TO  ALL  FEOFLE. 

almost  broken,  and  he  got  on  his  knees  and  cried,  "Break 
this  hard  heart  of  mine,  C;  God  !  and  if  not,  let  the  rod  come  \ 
anything  but  this  cold,  barren  ministry  ;"  and  while  he  was 
crying  in  that  way  for  God  to  break  his  hard  heart,  there 
was  a  little  faint  rap  at  the  door.  He  got  up  and  found  it 
was  his  little  child,  four  years  old,  who  was  there.  He  had 
heard  his  father  pniying,  and  he  said,  "  Father,  I  wish  you 
would  pray  that  Jesus  would  give  me  a  new  heart."  He 
said  God  broke  his  heart,  and  lie  wept  like  a  child,  and  after 
he  had  prayed  with  that  little  child  he  went  out  and  prayed 
with  some  of  his  parishioners,  and  there  were  forty  persons 
the  next  Sunday  who  were  converted,  for  God  had  broken 
his  heart.  O  God,  give  us  broken  hearts  and  contrite  spirits  ! 
If  our  hearts  are  cold,  and  our  work  is  merely  professional, 
and  we  are  doing  it  out  of  a  sense  of  duty,  God  is  not  going 
to  bless  our  ministry.  The  broken  heart  and  the  contrite 
spirit,  let  that  be  our  prayer  to-day.  In  the  nineteen  verses 
of  this  Psalm  there  are  sixteen  petitions.  Now  very  often 
we  pray  and  do  not  ask  for  anything.  I  remember  once 
hearing  about  a  man  u'ho  prayed  and  prayed  and  never  ask- 
ed for  anything,  when  some  godly  old  saint  in  the  congre- 
gation spoke  right  out  and  said,  "  Ask  Him  for  something." 
Throughout  these  meetings  let  us  ask  God  for  something. 
We  come  up  to  pray  for  something  and  to  ask  for  some- 
thing. In  prayer  is  the  desire  of  the  heart  above  everything 
else.  Now  the  question  is,  what  do  we  want  ?  What 
have  we  come  here  to-day  for  ?  If  you  have  come  to  hear  the 
singing  you  will  go  empty  away;  if  you  have  come  to  hear 
the  speaking  you  will  go  empty  away;  if  you  have  come  to 
see  the  crowd  you  will  go  empty  away ;  but  if  you  have 
come  to  ask  God  in  Heaven  to  give  you  something,  or  pray 
for  yourselves,  and  to  give  something  of  your  own  soul  for 
God  to  use,  and  to  bless  your  own  family,  God  will  bless 
us.  This  morning  I  took  up  my  pen  and  took  up  these 
petitions  that  David  made  in  this  prayer.     The  first  is  for 


DA  FID'S  PR  A  YE  R— HIS  CONFESSION.  8 1 

mercy  :  "  Blot  out  my  transgressions.  Wash  me  thoroughly 
from  mine  iniquity,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin.  Purge  me 
with  hyssop  :  wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow. 
Hide  thy  face  from  my  sins,  and  blot  out  all  mine  iniquities  ; 
create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me. 
Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence  ;  and  take  not  thy  holy 
spirit  from  me.  Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation  ; 
and  uphold  me  with  thy  free  spirit.  Deliver  me  from  blood- 
guiltiness,  O  God.  O  Lord,  open  thou  my  lips."  Let  us 
have  a  few  moments'  silent  prayer,  and  let  us  all  pray. 

6 


DAVID'S  PRAYER— SEARCH  ME  AND  KNOW  ME. 


Mr.  Moody  selected  for  his  theme  extracts  from  the 
139th  Psahii. 

"  O  Lord,  Thou  hast  searched  me  and  known  me. 

"  Thou  knowest  my  downsitting  and  mine  uprising, 
thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off. 

"  Thou  compassest  my  path  and  my  lying  down,  and  art 
acquainted  with  all  my  ways." 

Yes,  God  is  acquainted  with  all  our  hearts. 

"  For  there  is  not  a  word  in  my  tongue,  but  lo,  O  Lord, 
thou  knowest  it  altogether. 

"  Thou  has  beset  me  behind  and  before,  and  laid  thine 
hand  upon  me. 

"  Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  me  ;  it  is  high,  I 
cannot  attain  unto  it. 

"  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  spirit }  or  whither  shall 
I  flee  from  thy  presence  ? 

"  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there  ;  if  I  make 
my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there. 

"  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  sea  ; 

"  Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right 
hand  shall  hold  me. 

"  If  I  say,  Surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me  ;  even 
the  night  shall  be  light  about  me. 

"  Yea,  the  darkness  hideth  not  from  thee  ;  but  the  night 
shineth  as  the  day ;  the  darkness  and  the  light  are  both 
alike  to  thee. 

"  For  thou  hast  possessed  my  reins  ;  Thou  hast  cover- 
ed me  in  my  mother's  womb." 

In  the  23d  and  24th  verses  of  the  same  chapter: 

"  Search  me,  O  God  and  know  my  heart ;  try  me,  and 
know  my  thoughts. 

"  And  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and   lead 
me  in  the  way  everlasting," 
S2 


.  DA  VID'S  PR  A  YER.  33 

In  those  two  last  verses  the  Psalmist  refers  to  himself 
six  times — "Me,"  "my,"  "me,"  "search  me  and  know  my 
heart,"  I  wonder  if  we  are  ready  to-day  to  make  that 
prayer.  I  wonder  if  the  Christians  in  Boston  are  ready  to 
make  that  prayer.  It  is  easy  enough  for  those  who  come 
here  to  pray  for  other  people,  and  talk  about  the  sins  of 
other  people,  but  are  we  ready  to  have  God  search  us  ?  Have 
we  all  yet  got  ready  to  get  home  to  ourselves  ?  God  alone 
knows  our  heart ;  we  don't  know  it  ourselves.  The  heart  is 
deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked.  Who 
can  know  it  ?  Now  if  we  search  our  hearts,  we  may  over- 
look a  great  many  things.  God  sees  us  as  we  see  not. 
God's  thought  of  sin  is  not  as  ours.  Therefore  it  is  better 
for  us  to  let  God  search  us  than  to  attempt  to  search  our- 
selves. God  searches  the  deep  things  and  bringeth  hidden 
sins  to  light ;  sins  that  have  been  clustering  around  our 
hearts  for  years,  and  may  have  been  covered  from  our  eyes 
and  we  never  have  seen  them.  What  we  want  is  to  have 
God  search  us  and  probe  our  hearts,  that  He  may  bring  out 
all  these  secret  sins.  I  know  that  this  truth  is  not  popular ; 
it  is  not  what  the  people  like.  A  lady  in  Chicago  came 
to  where  we  were  having  one  of  our  search  meetings,  and 
said:  "I  never  want  to  go  back  to  those  meetings  ;  they 
make  one  feel  bad."  But  that  is  just  what  we  want.  It  is 
not  for  the  sake  of  blessing  people  that  we  labor,  but  to 
get  at  the  truth.  We  want  to  know  where  we  stand. 
There  must  be  a  castinsf  down  before  there  can  be  a  liftinoj 
up.  If  we  are  not  right  with  God,  we  are  not  fit  to  work 
in  His  cause  for  others.  If  we  have  a  beam  in  our  own 
eye,  it  is  useless  for  us  to  be  talking  about  casting  the  mote 
out  of  another's  eye.  If  there  is  any  evil  in  us,  let  us  ask 
God  to  show  it  to  us.  The  Doctor  examines  a  patient  and 
he  wants  to  find  out  all  about  the  patient,  and  he  makes 
a  thorough  examination  if  he  is  a  good  doctor.  If  there  is 
any  trouble,  it  is  better  to  find  it  cut  and   cure  it  than  to 


84  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

leave  it  there.  It  may  be  very  disagreeable  to  the  patient 
to  find  out  that  he  has  a  cancer,  but  it  is  better  that  he 
should  know  it.  A  knife  is  not  a  very  comfortable  looking 
instrument,  but  it  is  better  to  have  the  cancer  cut  out  than 
to  leave  it  to  eat  out  the  patient's  life.  So,  spiritually,  if  we 
have  any  trouble,  is  it  not  best  to  find  out  the  cause  and  cut 
it  out  ?  The  trouble  is  not  with  God.  If  we  have  not  power 
in  prayer,  isn't  it  well  for  us  to  pause  and  ask  God  the  reason 
and  find  out  where  the  trouble  is  ?  Certainly  it  is.  God 
has  the  same  power  as  He  ever  had,  and  He  is  just  as 
ready  to  answer  prayer  as  ever.  He  is  willing  to  aid  us, 
and  if  the  blessing  does  not  come  there  must  be  something 
wrong  with  us.  If  a  surgeon  comes  in  to  a  man  who  has 
a  broken  limb,  if  it  is  an  arm,  he  begins  at  the  wrist,  and 
the  patient  is  willing  to  have  him  feel  along,  and  by  and 
by  he  strikes  the  broken  place,  and  then  he  says,  "  That 
hurts."  So  it  is  with  sin.  But  as  it  is  better  if  we  have  a 
broken  arm  to  find  it  out,  so  it  is  better  if  we  have  a  heart 
full  of  secret  sins  to  have  them  brought  to  light  and  put 
away  by  God.  The  next  thought  in  that  verse  is  in  the 
words,  "Try  me  and  know  my  thoughts.''  Now  a  great 
many  people  think  that  if  they  do  not  do  some  outward  sin 
they  are  not  sinners.  But  God  looks  at  our  thoughts. 
Have  we  had  no  evil  thoughts  against  God  or  against  some 
ot  His  people  1  Have  we  no  evil  thoughts  against  God, 
no  hard  thoughts  against  His  dealings  with  us  t  Have  we 
no  hard  thoughts  against  some  of  His  people  ?  against  some 
we  ought  to  love  ?  If  the  root  of  bitterness  has  sprung 
up  in  our  hearts  against  some  one,  how  is  God  going 
to  answer  our  prayer  and  hear  our  cry  ?  Have  we  not 
some  doubts  of  God  ?  Isn't  there  some  unbelief  ?  Love 
does  not  like  to  be  suspected.  It  has  come  to  be  that  a 
great  many  people  think  that  unbelief  is  a  sort  of  misfor- 
tune, but  it  is  in  reality  the  damning  sin  of  the  world  and 
the  Church  to-day.     People   say,  "  I  cannot  believe,"  but 


DA  VinS  PR  A  YER .  8  - 

what  right  have  they  to  disbelieve  ?  Has  He  not  kept  His 
promises  for  6000  years  ?  Did  He  not  make  good  His 
word  to  Adam,  and  to  Abraham,  and  to  Moses  ?  Did 
He  not  stand  by  Elijah  when  He  promised  to  do  so? 
Can  you  find  any  promise  that  He  has  broken  ?  And 
how  is  it  for  man  to  stand  up  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  say  that  he  cannot  believe  God  ? 
It  is  not  that  they  cannot  believe  Him,  but  they  do  not 
want  to.  God  looks  at  the  thought,  and  unbelief  is  a  sin  ; 
doubts  are  sins.  If  any  man  is  in  doubting  castle  and  is 
just  full  of  doubts,  he  is  not  fit  to  work  for  God.  We  are 
not  ready  to  move  on  the  enemy  yet.  We  have  got  to  have 
a  Church  that  is  purged  of  these  terrible  sins — doubts  and 
unbelief.  Just  see  what  the  psalmist  says  :  "  Try  me  and 
know  my  thoughts."  Now,  isn't  there  another  thing  that 
we  are  guilty  of  ?  Are  we  not  more  thoughtful  for  our  own 
reputation  and  our  position  than  we  are  for  God's  honor  ? 
That  is  another  thought — that  is  wicked  in  the  sight  of  God. 
How  many  are  very  jealous,  as  Elijah  when  he  went  out  there 
unaer  the  juniper  tree,  and  he  was  very  jealous  for  his  own 
glory  ?  He  said  he  was  no  better  than  his  fathers  were  :  he 
was  more  jealous  for  his  own  honor  than  for  God's.  And 
there  are  many  people  who  are  jealous  for  their  own  honor 
instead  of  God's.  It  is  their  own  reputation  that  they  are 
seeking  after.  Now  we  must  sink  our  dignity  and  reputa- 
tion and  position,  and  God  will  use  us.  If  a  man  has  got 
great  doubts  about  himself  God  cannot  use  him.  The 
psalmist  says,  "  Oh,  God,  try  my  thoughts."  Are  you 
ready  to  make  that  prayer  yourselves  ?  It  is  easy  enough 
to  sit  here  and  condemn  other  people,  but  are  you  ready  to 
be  tried  yourselves  ?  I  \vonder  how  many  of  us  would  blush 
if  all  our  thoughts  could  be  brought  to  light  for  the  last 
few  days  ;  thoughts  that  we  have  had  about  other  people, 
about  God,  and  see  them  emblazoned  out  in  Tremont 
Temple  so  that  people  could  read  them  !     Now,  this  prayer 


86  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

is,  "  Try  my  thoughts  " — ^just  try  me.  Now  it  is  very  easy 
for  us  to  talk  about  it,  but  we  have  got  to  come  right  down 
to  the  real  fact  of  God's  trying  us.  Then  I  think,  if  God 
should  try  us  He  would  find  that  self  was  at  the  bottom  of 
a  great  deal  we  attempted  to  do,  and  that  is  the  reason  we 
have  had  so  many  failures.  Oh,  if  we  could  only  get  this 
capital  "  I  "  down  out  of  the  way  and  Christ  up  !  There 
was  a  young  convert  all  the  time  talking  about  himself,  and 
there  was  a  young  Christian  lad)^  a  goodly  woman,  who 
just  took  out  a  little  hymn  book  that  she  had,  and  on  the 
fly-leaf  she  wrote  :  "  Not  I,  but  Christ ;  not  flesh,  but  spirit ; 
not  sight,  but  faith."  It  is  all  she  said.  She  gave  it  to 
him  ;  he  pasted  it  in  his  Bible  and  carried  it  round  with 
him.  A  pretty  good  motto  for  every  one  to  have  ;  "  Not  I, 
but  Christ  ;  not  sight,  but  faith  ;"  that  is  what  we  want ; 
not  flesh,  but  the  spirit,  the  flesh  crucified,  the  old  man 
with  his  deeds  put  off  and  the  new  man  put  on.  Now,  how 
is  it  ?  Are  there  bickerings  in  your  church  ?  Have  you 
got  some  church  quarrel  on  hand  ?  Well  you  needn't  pray 
for  a  revival  until  you  get  that  out  of  the  way  ;  your  pray- 
ers will  not  go  above  your  head.  How  many  times  I  don't 
know,  but  a  great  many  times,  during  the  past  few  months, 
people  have  come  to  me  and  said  :  "  Why  is  it  that  my 
prayers  don't  go  higher  than  my  head  ?  and  it  seems  like 
beating  the  air  when  I  pray ;  my  prayers  seem  cold  and 
formal  and  like  prayerless  pra3^ers."  Now  I  believe  if 
there  is  anything  that  is  an  abomination  before  God  more 
than  another,  it  is  prayerless  prayers.  The  idea  of  praying 
like  people  counting  beads.  There  is  something  which 
comes  in  before  prayer.  If  you  will  not  confess  your  sins 
you  need  not  pray.  It  says  here  in  the  59th  chapter  of 
the  prophesies  of  Isaiah — a  good  brother  called  it  to  my  at- 
tention last  night;  I  had  never  noticed  it  before,  I  have 
been  stopping  at  the  first  verse :  "  Behold,  the  Lord's  hand 
is  not   shortened,  that   it  cannot  save  :  neither  is  His   ear 


DAl'ID'S  PR  A  YER. 


87 


heavy,  that  it  cannot  hear" — and  there  I  always  stopped 
I  don't  know  how  many  times  I  have  heard  that  verse 
quoted  in  prayer.  God's  hand  is  not  shortened,  that  it 
cannot  save  ;  neither  is  His  ear  heavy,  that  it  cannot  hear, 
and  I  think  the  devil  comes  in  there  and  stops  us  right  in 
the  middle  of  the  sentence  and  we  don't  get  the  whole  of 
it.  Let  us  look  at  the  next  verse  and  see  what  it  says : 
"  But  your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and  your 
God,  and  your  sins  have  hid  His  face  from  you,  that  He 
will  not  hear."  That  is  the  reason  He  don't  hear.  He 
can,  but  He  won't ;  then  comes  the  period  ;  put  the  two 
verses  together.  I  have  just  put  a  mark  right  around  these 
two  verses.  I  have  yoked  them  up.  I  never  mean  to 
separate  them  again.  It  is  easy  enough  to  quote  the  first 
verse,  why  God  don't  answer,  why  He  does  not  favor  Zion. 
The  set  time  for  God  to  favor  is  when  we  depart  from  our 
iniquities  with  all  our  hearts,  and  then  is  the  time  to  bless 
Him.     That  is  the  time.     God  is  ready  to  bless  Boston. 

I  believe  He  is  hovering  over  this  city,  now,  and  over 
all  New  England,  but  a  work  must  be  done  in  the  Church 
first.  We  have  got  to  depart  from  our  iniquity,  and  our 
prayers  will  be  cold,  dead  and  formal  until  all  our  iniqui- 
ties are  put  away.  How  is  it  ?  Are  you  ready  to  pray  for 
yourselves  ?  You  are  ready  to  pray  for  others.  Can  you 
say  that  "  God  has  purged  my  sins  .''  "  "  God  has  search- 
ed my  heart  and  found  out  my  sins  and  put  them  away,  and 
now  I  am  ready  to  go  into  His  vineyard  and  go  to  work  ?  " 
If  not,  don't  let  us  pray  for  others.  Let  there  be  a  purging 
of  us  from  iniquity  and  sin.  Requests  are  coming  in  from 
all  New  England  for  prayers  for  sons  and  daughters,  but 
it  seems  as  if  we  were  not  yet  ready  to  bring  them  forward. 
But  we  want  to  get  right  ourselves  first,  to  let  the  knife  go 
down  deep  into  our  hearts.  O,  God,  search  me  ;  try  my 
thoughts  and  see  if  there  be  any  evil  in  me,  and  lead  me 
in  the  way  everlasting.  Let  us  cry  to  God  that  He  may 
search  us. 


DANIEL'S  PRAYER— HIS  CONFESSION. 


"  I  WILL  read  the  five  verses  of  the  9th  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Daniel,  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  first  day  of  Darius  the  son  of  Ahasuerus,  of 
the  seed  of  the  Medes,  which  was  made  king  over  the 
realm  of  the  Chaldeans  ; 

"  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign  I  Daniel  understood  by 
books  the  number  of  the  years,  whereof  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  to  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  that  he  would  accom- 
plish seventy  years  in  the  desolations  of  Jerusalem. 

"  And  I  set  my  face  unto  the  Lord  God,  to  seek  by 
prayer  and  supplications,  with  fasting,  and  sackcloth,  and 
ashes  : 

"  And  I  prayed  unto  the  Lord,  the  great  and  dreadful 
God,  keeping  the  covenant  and  mercy  to  them  that  love 
him,  and  to  them  that  keep  his  commandments  ; 

"  We  have  sinned,  and  have  committed  iniquity,  and  have 
done  wickedly,  and  have  rebelled,  even  by  departing  from 
thy  precepts  and  from  thy  judgments." 

It  is  well  for  us  to  pause  just  for  a  moment  and  inquire 
who  this  man  is  that  is  awaking  compassion.  There  is  an 
idea  abroad  that  no  one  need  to  confess  sin,  unless  it  be 
some  one  who  has  murdered  or  some  one  who  has  stolen. 
Now,  if  I  read  my  Bible  correctly,  this  man  was  one  of  the 
holiest  of  men  that  lived  in  his  day,  and  there  isn't  any- 
thing against  him  in  the  Scriptures.  There  are  only  a 
very  few  Bible  characters  but  what  you  can  find  something 
recorded  against  them  ;  but  here  is  one  who  commenced 


DAiYIErS  PRA  YER—HIS  CONFESSION.  89 

to  shine  as  soon  as  he  went  into  Babylon,  and  continued 
to  shine  all  his  life.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  living 
in  his  day,  and  yet  he  was  not  wiser  than  Scripture  ;  he 
believed  in  the  word  of  God.  Not  only  that,  being  in 
that  high  position,  in  reality  the  ruler  of  the  whole  world 
at  that  time,  none  higher  except  the  King  on  the  throne, 
and  yet  all  of  this  government  was  committed  into  his 
hands.  Like  Joseph  down  there  in  Egypt,  Pharaoh  held 
the  sceptre,  but  he  reigned,  and  so  it  was  with  the  states- 
man ;  lifted  up  from  slavery  to  the  highest  position  on 
earth,  and  yet  we  find  that  he  was  a  praying  man,  and  I 
think  this  country  would  be  better  off  if  we  had  a  few  states- 
men that  could  pray  like  Daniel,  that  were  not  ashamed 
to  pray.  But  a  great  many  men  seem  to  think  now 
that  it  is  beneath  their  dignity  and  position  to  pray  ;  but  he 
was  a  man  of  prayer  and  knew  how  to  pray.  I  have  often 
said  and  thought  that  I  would  rather  pray  like  Daniel  than 
to  preach  like  Gabriel.  What  Boston  wants  is  praying 
men,  men  that  can  get  hold  of  God  in  prayer.  You  have 
had  preaching  enough  to  convert  all  Boston  to  God.  It  is 
not  good  preaching  you  want,  but  inen  and  women  who 
know  how  to  get  hold  of  God  in  pra3^er,  and  perhaps  we 
must  begin  where  Daniel  did  and  confess  our  sins.  There 
is  nothing  recorded  against  him  in  Scripture,  but  he  began 
by  confessing  his  sins.  Now,  undoubtedly  there  were  a 
great  many  in  his  day  who  looked  down  upon  him  with  scorn 
and  contempt,  but  that  didn't  turn  him;  he  went  to  his  room 
three  times  a  day  and  prayed.  It  would  be  well  for  us  to 
enter  into  the  difficulty  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  ;  they 
were  down  there  in  exile,  banished  from  their  own  land 
in  bondage  and  slavery,  and  we  find  that  they  got  there 
by  their  own  sins.  When  they  went  into  the  promised 
land  God  told  them  that  they  should  give  their  land  rest,  that 
the  land  should  have  one  year  out  of  seven,  as  they  had  at 
first  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  the  judges  that   outlived 


90 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


Joshua  gave  the  land  rest  as  God  had  commanded  ;  and 
then  after  that  they  refused  to  do  it,  although  God  said, 
"If  you  will  do  it  you  will  have  just  as  much — I  will  make 
it  up  to  you,"  and  they  got  just  as  much.  And  now  a 
great  many  men  have  got  an  idea  that  they  can  do  more  in 
seven  days  than  they  can  in  six,  and  a  great  many  of  us 
are  breaking  away  from  God's  Commandments,  and  the 
Sabbath  is  being  let  down,  and  a  great  many  men  have  got 
a  false  idea  that  they  can  do  more  in  seven  days  than  they 
can  in  six,  but  a  man  that  observes  the  Sabbath  and  keeps 
God's  day  God  gives  him  more.  That  has  been  proven 
over  and  over  again.  And  for  four  hundred  and  ninety 
years  they  refused  to  let  the  land  have  a  day  of  rest,  so 
God  let  the  Chaldeans  come  up  from  Babylon  and  take 
^them  captive  and  kept  them  there  for  seventy  years.  The 
latter  figures  multiplied  by  seven,  those  of  you  who  under- 
stand arithmetic  will  see,  makes  the  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years.  God  said,  "  If  you  will  not  give  the  land 
rest  I  will  take  it,"  and  so  they  were  there  in  difficulty  on 
account  of  their  sins,  and  every  nation  that  forgets  God 
will  be  brought  into  difficulty. "  It  is  only  a  question  of 
time.  But  now  in  their  trouble  God  answers  prayer.  We 
find  here  in  the  next  verse:  "Neither  have  we  harkened 
unto  thy  servants  the  prophets,  which  spake  in  thy  name 
to  our  kings,  our  princes  and  our  fathers,  and  to  all  the 
people  of  the  land.  O  Lord,  righteousness  belonged  unto 
thee,  but  unto  us  confusion  of  faces,  as  at  this  day  ;  to 
the  men  of  Judah,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem, 
and  unto  all  Israel,  that  are  near,  and  that  are  far  off, 
through  all  the  countries  whither  thou  hast  driven  them, 
because  of  their  trespass,  that  they  have  trespassed  against 
thee."  "  O  Lord,  to  us  belongeth  confusion  of  faces,  to 
our  kings,  to  our  princes  and  to  our  fathers,  because  we 
have  sinned  against  thee."  He  knew  how  to  pray  ;  he 
knew  how  to  get  hold  of  God   in   prayer.     He  did  not 


DAXIELS  PRAYER— HIS  CONFESSION.  ^j 

preach  his  own  righteousness,  but  brought  his  sins  ;  and 
that  is  what  God  wants  us  to  do,  to  bring  our  sins  to  Him 
and  not  act  like  this  Pharisee,  because  if  we  do  we  shall 
always  go  empty  away.  If  a  man  will  put  away  his  sins, 
or  rather  bring  them  to  God  and  ask  Him  to  put  them 
away  for  him,  God  will  hear  and  answer  his  prayer.  I 
believe  one  reason  why  so  many  prayers  are  unanswered 
is  because  there  is  some  secret  sin  which  we  have  covered 
up,  and  we  have  been  nurturing  iniquity  in  our  hearts  ;  we 
have  not  been  living  as  God  would  have  us  live,  according 
to  His  precepts,  and  we  have  not  turned  away  from  sin  ; 
therefore  God  has  hid  His  face  from  us,  and  has  not  an- 
swered our  prayer.  "  O  Lord,  hear.  O  Lord,  forgive. 
O  Lord,  hearken  and  do  ;    defer  not,  for  thine    own  sake, 

0  my  God,  for  thy  city  and  thy  people  are  called  by  thy 
name."  That  is  the  power  of  prayer  for  His  own  honor  ; 
but  He  lived  on  the  other  side  of  the  Cross.  Oh,  what  a 
stronger  case  we  can  make  to  God  !  Do  it,  for  Christ's  sake. 
We  want  Boston  blessed,  for  what  ?  For  our  sins,  for  the 
sake  of  the  churches  ?  Nay,  let  us  rise  to  a  higher  ground 
than  that.  For  the  sake  of  sin.  And  how  he  loves  to 
own  that  sin  ;  he  thinks  a  good  deal  of  Christ.  Some  one 
has  said,  "  Tf  you  want  to  please  a  father,  speak  well  of 
his  son  ; "  if  you  want  to  please  God,  think  well  of  his 
son  Jesus.  And  when  we  come  to  ask  God,  for  Christ's 
sake,  what  power  we  have  with  Him  !  I  remember  at  a  ] 
convention  in  Detroit  of  hearing  a  judge  tell  a  story  which    ^ 

1  shall  never  forsret  or  the  lesson  it  teaches.  He  said 
that  when  the  war  broke  out  he  had  an  only  son  who  went 
to  i^,  and  ever  after  that  he  became  interested  in  all  sol- 
diers, and  when  they  passed  through  Columbus,  where  he 
lived,  he  wanted  to  put  his  arms  right  around  their  necks. 
He  got  up  a  soldiers'  home.  He  gave  a  good  deal  of  his 
time  to  looking  after  soldiers.  But  there  came  a  day  when 
he  said  he  had  got  to  stop  it.     He  had  an  important  case 


9 2  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

in  court  and  had  got  to  attend  to  his  business.  That  morn- 
ing he  went  down  to  his  office  determined  that  he  would 
have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  soldiers  that  day  and 
should  devote  his  whole  time  to  business.  He  said  he 
hadn't  been  there  a  long  while  before  there  was  some  one 
walked  in  in  a  hesitating  way,  and  looking  up  he  saw  a 
soldier  with  an  old  uniform  on.  But  he  kept  right  on 
with  his  writing  and  paid  no  attention  to  him.  But  the 
man  came  up  to  the  table  or  desk  where  he  sat  and  pulled 
out  of  his  pocket  an  old  soiled  piece  of  paper.  He  put 
out  his  hand  as  if  to  bid  him  to  go,  because  he  was  busy, 
and  he  remembered  his  determination  not  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  soldiers  that  day.  But  as  he  was  motion- 
ing him  away,  his  eyes  lit  upon  the  paper,  and  he  at  once 
recognized  his  own  son's  handwriting.  Seizing  it,  he  read 
it  eagerly,  bidding  the  stranger  to  be  seated.  What  affects 
him  so  !  It  was  a  short  note  something  like  this  ;  "  Dear 
Father  :  This  young  man  is  a  member  of  my  company.  He 
has  lost  his  health  in  the  defence  of  his  country,  and  is  on 
his  way  to  his  mother.  Treat  him  kindly  for  Charlie's  sake." 
The  father  relates  that  the  moment  he  read  that,  there  was 
nothing  too  good  for  that  poor  soldier  who  had  brought  him 
a  word  from  his  son.  He  sent  for  his  own  family  physician 
to  minister  unto  that  soldier,  and  did  everything  for  him, 
and  when  he  got  well  he  took  and  bought  him  a  ticket  and 
sent  him  on  his  way  to  his  mother.  And  what  for  ?  Why 
all  for  "  Charlie's  sake."  Now,  my  friends,  what  is  there 
that  God  will  not  do  for  us  if  we  come  in  Christ's  name  ? 
If  He  gave  His  son  to  this  world,  what  will  He  not  give  to 
you  and  I  ?  what  we  want  is  to  pray  for  Christ's  sake.  Let 
us  not  forget  the  first  part  of  Daniel's  prayer,  "  I  confess 
my  sin."  He  commenced  by  confessing  his  own  sin.  Let 
us  ask  God  to  search  our  hearts  and  put  away  any  secret 
sin  so  that  He  can  hear  our  cry  and  answer  our  prayer. 
I  have  been  praying  that  the  work  in  Boston  may  be  deeper 


DANIELS  PRA  YER—HIS  CONFESSION  93 

than  in  any  place  we  have  hitherto  been.  But  if  it  is,  it 
must  commence  here  in  our  hearts,  there  must  be  a  heart 
searching  with  God's  people  first.  A  great  many  are 
anxious  that  we  shall  preach  to  the  unconverted.  I  think 
we  had  better  preach  to  the  Christians  a  little  while  longer, 
and  get  them  right  first,  and  then  there  will  not  be  any  trou- 
ble afterwards  with  the  unconverted.  How  is  God  going 
to  work  when  the  church  is  wrong  and  our  hearts  are  cold 
and  full  of  lukewarmness  and  bitterness  and  strife  and 
sectarianism  and  all  these  other  isms  !  May  the  God  of 
heaven  clean  out  our  hearts  and  fill  them  full  of  the  faith  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  then  we  will  be  able  to  pray  as  this 
man  Daniel  prayed.  Does  God  answer  prayer  ?  "  And 
while  I  was  speaking  avid  praying  and  confessing  my  sin 
and  the  sins  of  my  people  Israel,  and  presenting  my  sup- 
plication before  the  Lord  my  God  for  the  holy  mountain 
of  my  God  ;  yea,  while  I  was  speaking  in  prayer,  even  the 
man  Gabriel,  whom  I  had  seen  in  the  vision  at  the  begin- 
ning, being  caused  to  fly  swiftly,  touched  me  about  the 
time  of  the  evening  oblation." 

About  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  suppose.  I  don't 
know  what  time  he  commenced  to  pray,  but  he  prayed 
until  the  blessing  came.  That  is  what  we  want  to  do  in 
Boston.  Let  us  pray  day  and  night  until  God  answers  our 
prayers  ;  let  us  pray  as  we  are  walking  through  the  streets  ; 
let  us  pray  in  our  families  ;  let  us  pray  in  our  business,  and 
let  us  pray  all  the  time.  O  Lord,  revive  the  work  in  my 
heart !  If  Daniel  needed  it  revived  in  his  heart  and  need- 
ed God  to  forgive  his  sins,  how  much  more  need  that  we 
should  ask  God  to  put  sin  from  us.  And  he  talked  with 
him.  "  And  he  informed  uie^  and  talked  with  me,  and  said, 
O,  Daniel,  I  am  now  come  forth  to  give  thee  skill  and 
understanding.  At  the  beginning  of  thy  supplications  the 
commandment  came  forth,  and  I  am  come  to  show  thee; 
for  thou  art  greatly  beloved  ;  therefore  understand  the  mat- 


CJ4.  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

ter,  and  consider  the  vision."  Some  people  now  in  Boston 
are  asking  does  God  answer  prayer  ?  Didn't  He  answer  this 
man's  prayer  and  bring  an  angel  out  of  heaven  to  tell  him 
his  prayer  was  heard  ?  And  at  the  very  beginning  of  his 
supplication  the  angel  was  sent  to  tell  him  he  was  a  man 
that  was  greatly  beloved.  It  might  have  been  very  un- 
popular in  Babylon  for  a  man  to  be  very  much  thought  of 
in  heaven ;  but  if  he  was  unpopular  in  Babylon  he  was  popu- 
lar in  heaven,  and  we  can  afford  to  be  unpopular  down 
here  if  we  are  only  popular  up  there  ;  we  can  afford  to 
have  the  world  think  coldly  of  us  if  we  are  well  thought  of 
in  heaven.  I  would  rather  be  a  man  greatly  beloved  by 
God  than  have  a  gold  monument  built  over  my  body  reach- 
ing from  earth  to  heaven.  Greatly  beloved,  a  man  of 
prayer,  loved  by  God,  a  man  thought  well  of  in  heaven, 
who  prayed  three  times  a  day,  although  he  held  a  high 
position  !  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  what  he  confessed 
in  this  prayer.  I  will  just  abbreviate  it.  The  first  thing  he 
commenced  by  saying  "  We  have  sinned."  Now  can  we 
say  that .''  If  we  can,  let  us  confess  it  to  God.  "  We  have 
committed  iniquity,  we  have  done  wickedly  ;  "  he  calls 
things  by  the  right  name  ;  he  don't  call  them  mistakes,  but 
he  called  it  iniquity^  and  he  called  sin  sin.,  transgression 
transgression,  not  a  few  mistakes.  Some  people  have  got 
an  idea  that  sin  is  a  mistake  now,  and  we  cannot  help  it ; 
but  God  will  hold  us  responsible.  "  We  have  rebelled  ;  " 
that  is  what  they  had  done — they  had  rebelled  against  God. 
"  We  have  departed  from  thy  precepts  and  thy  judgments, 
we  have  not  barkened  unto  thy  servants  the  prophets,  we 
have  sinned  against  thee,  we  have  rebelled  against  thee, 
we  have  not  obeyed  thy  voice,  we  have  not  walked  in  thy 
laws  which  were  set  before  us,  we  have  sinned,  we  have 
done  wickedly."  May  the  God  of  Daniel  help  us  to  con- 
fess our  sins,  and  then  let  Him  put  them  away  so  that  we 
'dll  appear  with  Him  !  Let  us  all  bow  our  heads  in  silent 
^^er. 


CONFESSING   OUR  SINS. 


We  had  for  our  subject  on  Friday  "  Forgiveness,"  but  it 
may  be  there  is  a  subject  I  ought  to  have  brought  up  before 
that,  and  that  is  "  Confessing  Our  Sins."  Joshua  the  suc- 
cessful man  was  once  defeated,  or  his  army  was,  on  account 
of  sin  being  in  the  camp  ;  they  were  successful  at  Jericho 
and  then  went  on  to  Ai.  They  only  sent  about  3000  men, 
that  being  a  small  place,  and  they  thought  3000  would  be 
sufficient,  but  we  fmd  that  they  were  repulsed  and  driven 
back.     It  says  : 

"  And  Joshua  rent  his  clothes  and  fell  to  the  earth  upon 
his  face  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  until  even-tide,  he  and 
the  elders  of  Israel,  and  put  dust  upon  their  heads. 

"  And  Joshua  said,  Alas  !  O  Lord  God,  wherefore  hast 
thou  at  all  brought  this  people  over  Jordan  to  deliver  us 
into  the  hand  of  the  Amorites,  to  destroy  us?  Would  to 
God  we  had  been  content  to  dwell  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan  ! 

"  O  Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  when  Israel  turneth  their 
backs  before  their  enemies  ! 

"  For  the  Canaan ites  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land 
should  hear  of  it,  and  shall  environ  us  round,  and  cut  off 
our  name  from  the  earth  ;  and  what  wilt  thou  do  unto  thy 
great  name .'' 

"  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua.  Get  thee  up  ;  where- 
fore liest  thou  thus  upon  thy  face  ? 

"  Israel  hath  sinned,  and  they  have  also  transgressed  my 
covenant  which  I  commanded  them ;  for  they  have  even 
taken  of  the  accursed  thing,  and  have  also  stolen,  and  dis- 
sembled also,  and  they  have  put  it  even  among  their  own 
stuff. 

"  Therefore,  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  stand  before 


96 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


their  enemies,  but  turned  their  backs  before  their  enemies, 
because  they  were  accursed  ;  neither  will  I  be  with  you 
any  more,  except  ye  destroy  the  accursed  from  among 
you. 

"  Up,  sanctify  the  people,  and  say.  Sanctify  yourselves 
against  to-morrow,  for  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel. 
There  is  an  accursed  thing  in  the  midst  of  thee,  O  Israel  ; 
thou  canst  not  stand  before  thine  enemies  until  ye  take 
away  the  accursed  thing  from  among  you." 

That  was  why  they  w^ere  unsuccessful,  that  was  why 
they  were  defeated ;  and  now  if  there  is  going  to  be  a 
defeat  in  Boston  it  will  be  on  account  of  God's  people  not 
making  confession  of  their  own  sins.  It  is  easy  enough  to 
talk  about  unconverted  men  confessing  their  sins  and 
turning  from  them,  but  if  we  do  not  confess  our  sins  we 
cannot  expect  them  to  do  it,  nor  can  we  preach  it  to  them. 
Therefore,  let  these  days  be  heart-searching  days.  Let  us 
see  if  there  be  any  evil  way  in  us.  Some  one  has  said  that 
unconfessed  sin  is  like  a  bullet  in  a  man's  body.  And  he 
cannot  expect  to  have  a  healthy  body  as  long  as  that  bullet 
is  there.  We  cannot  expect  to  be  healthy  Christians  as 
long  as  our  sins  are  unconfessed.  You  will  find  all  through 
the  Word  of  God,  that  there  is  a  good  deal  said  about  be- 
lievers confessing  their  sins.  When  Solomon  dedicated 
the  Temple  we  see  in  the  first  of  Kings,  8th  chapter  and 
33d  verse : 

"When  thy  people  Israel  be  smitten  down  before  the 
enemy,  because  they  have  sinned  against  thee,  and  shall 
turn  again  to  thee,  and  confess  thy  name,  and  pray,  and 
make  supplication  unto  thee  in  this  house. 

"Then  hear  thou  in  heaven,  and  forgive  the  sin  of  thy 
people  Israel,  and  bring  them  again  unto  the  land  which 
thou  gavest  unto  their  fathers. 

"  When  heaven  is  shut  up,  and  there  is  no  rain,  because 
they  have  sinned  against  thee  ;  if  they  pray  toward  this 
place,  and  confess  thy  name,  and  turn  from  their  sin 
when  thou  afflictest  them : 

"  Then  hear  thou  in  heaven,  and  forgive  the  sin  of  thy 


CONFESSING  OUR  SINS. 


97 


servants,  and  of  thy  people  Israel,  that  thou  teach  them 
the  good  wa}^  wherein  they  should  walk,  and  give  rain  upon 
thy  land,  which  thou  hast  given  to  thy  people  for  an  in- 
heritance." 

Here  we  find  that  war  w^as  brought  upon  them  on 
account  of  their  sins,  also  famine,  but  if  they  would  only 
confess  their  sins  and  turn  away  from  them,  God  said  that 
He  would  answer  and  give  them  peace  and  give  them  rain 
if  they  would  confess  their  sins.  Now  hasn't  this  nation 
sinned?  But  it  is  easy  enough  to  talk  about  a  nation's  sin 
and  a  church's  sin,  but  what  we  want  is  to  get  down  to  per- 
sonal sin,  to  individual  sin:  if  I  confess  my  sins  and  turn 
from  them,  then  God  will  bless  me  and  my  efforts.  If  the 
people  will  confess  their  sins  and  turn  from  them,  then  they 
will  have  power  with  God  in  prayer.  I  don't  think  our 
prayers  will  go  very  high  if  we  don't  confess  our  sins.  All 
sin  is  against  God.  I  have  received  quite  a  number  of 
letters  since  we  had  that  meeting  in  Tremont  Temple  when 
we  had  for  a  subject  "  Search  me,  O  God  ;  try  me  and 
prove  me,"  and  they  want  to  know  to  whom  they  should 
confess  their  sin.  Well,  I  will  say,  all  sin  is  against  God, 
and  therefore  must  be  confessed  to  God.  There  are  sins 
which  are  committed  publicly  or  known  in  public,  and  they 
ought  to  be  confessed  as  publicly  as  they  are  committed. 

Then  there  are  sins  against  individuals,  which  ought  to 
be  confessed  to  individuals.  In  James  v.  i6,  it  says  : 
*'  Confess  your  faults  one  to  another."  If  I  have  any  trou- 
ble with  a  man,  I  have  got  to  go  to  him  and  confess  my 
fault  and  get  his  forgiveness.  I  need  not  parade  it  before 
the  church  or  the  world.  If  it  had  been  a  personal  matter, 
I  am  to  go  to  that  man,  and  be  reconciled  to  him.  Then 
be  will  have  confidence  in  my  piety,  and  if  I  get  up  and 
speak  in  church,  he  will  say,  "That  is  a  true  man — he 
sinned  against  me,  but  he  confessed  his  fault."  Then  I 
have  power  with  him.     But  if  I  had  covered  up  that  sin 

7 


gS  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

God  would  not  have  blessed  me.  There  are  a  great  many 
people  who  have  got  an  idea  they  can  just  do  that  by  at- 
tending revival  meeting  and  going  to  church  and  singing 
hymns,  singing  pretty  loud  and  praying  pretty  loud,  and 
cover  it  up.  Don't  you  be  deceived :  you  cannot  serve 
God  that  way  ;  that  is  an  abomination  to  God.  God  wants 
you  to  be  honest  with  Him,  to  put  away  your  sins_,  and  then 
your  service  is  acceptable.  It  is  not  sacrifice  that  God 
wants  so  much  as  it  is  to  have  us  turn  from  our  sins,  be 
faithful  and  confess  our  sins.  I  remember  being  in  a  place 
some  few  years  ago,  and  on  one  side  of  the  desk  was  a 
mother ;  she  was  very  anxious  about  her  sins,  she  was 
greatly  troubled  about  her  sins  and  wanted  to  get  to  Christ. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  platform  was  her  daughter.  They 
were  a  very  wealthy  family,  perhaps  the  wealthiest  in  that 
town,  and  it  had  been  known  for  ayear  that  there  had  been 
a  quarrel  betvv'een  that  mother  and  her  daughter,  that  they 
would  not  speak  to  each  other  on  the  street,  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  each  other,  and  they  wanted,  both  of 
them,  to  become  Christians.  I  said  ;  "  I  don't  see  how  you 
can  if  you  are  not  willing  to  forgive  each  other,  and  as  it  is 
a  public  matter  and  every  one  knows  it,  you  had  better  ask 
each  other's  forgiveness  right  in  the  meeting."  Well,  the 
mother  started.  The  daughter  was  not  quite  as  willing  to 
start  as  the  mother.  Mother's  love  is  stronger  than  chil- 
dren's. But  when  the  mother  started  and  the  daughter  saw 
her  coming,  she  started  and  met  her,  and  right  there  in  that 
public  audience  they  asked  each  other's  forgiveness,  they 
confessed  their  faults  one  to  another,  and  to  me  it  was  one 
of  the  most  impressive  things  in  my  life,  and  I  think  one 
of  the  most  powerful  sermons  ever  preached  in  that  town. 
There  was  a  sob  all  over  the  house  and  a  great  many  were 
brought  right  under  conviction  then,  and  inquired. 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  .''  "  Confess  your  faults  one 
to  another.     If  you  can  think  of  any  one  you  have  had 


CONFESSIA^G  OUR  SINS. 


99 


any  difficulty  with,  go  and  have  that  thing  straightened  out, 
be  reconciled,  and  then  see  how  quick  God  will  answer 
your  prayer.  He  says  in  the  first  Epistle  of  John,  and  the 
I  St  chapter  and  the  9th  verse  :  "  If  we  confess  our  sin  He 
is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive."  Mark  that  little  work  "  if." 
I  would  like  to  emphasize  that  "  if."  "  If  we  confess  our 
sins."  How  is  God  going  to  forgive  our  sins  if  we  don't 
confess  them  ?  Suppose  I  should  go  home  to-day  and  find 
my  boy  had  told  me  a  lie  and  he  has  covered  it  up  and  he 
don't  think  that  I  know  it  ;  he  thinks  that  it  is  all  hid  from 
me.  When  he  is  very  affectionate  and  some  one  has  given 
him  some  beautiful  present  which  he  thinks  a  great  deal  of, 
and  his  conscience  is  troubling  him  so  and  he  wants  to 
cover  up  that  sin,  and  he  says,  "  Papa,  some  one  has  made 
me  that  present  and  I  want  to  give  it  to  you."  Do  you 
think  that  would  be  acceptable  to  me  although  it  might  be 
a  great  sacrifice  for  him  to  do  it  ?  I  wouldn't  want  that. 
There  is  just  one  thing  I  would  want  that  boy  to  do  ;  I 
would  want  him  to  confess  that  sin.  That  would  be  more 
pleasing  to  me  than  anything  else.  Now  what  God  wants  is 
to  have  His  children  confess  their  sins  ;then  come  with  your 
prayers  and  your  thank  offerings  and  then  make  sacrifices  if 
you  want  to  ;  then  show  your  love.  But  the  first  real  test  of 
love  and  obedience  is  that  we  shall  confess  our  sins.  Now 
let  us  read  that  "if  we  confess  our  sins  He  is  faithful  and 
just  to  forgive  U3  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  un- 
righteousness. If  we  say  that  we  have  not  sinned,  we 
make  Him  a  liar,  and  His  word  is  not  in  us."  I  pity  a 
man  or  woman  who  think  they  have  not  sinned.  God 
charges  the  very  angels  with  falling  ;  the  stars  are  not  pure 
in  His  sight,  and  what  we  want  is  to  bring  every  hidden 
sin  to  light.  Out  with  it,  confess  it  to  God,  and  see  how 
quick  He  will  put  it  away.  If  we  haven't  been  honest  in 
business,  if  we  haven't  been  truthful  in  selling  our  goods, 
it  seems  to  me  there  are  many  lies  used  in  selling  goods. 


loo  '  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Go  down  town  and  you  will  see  in  ever}  window  the 
announcement  that  "  this  is  the  cheapest  store  in  town,  " 
and  that  you  can  buy  goods  cheaper  there  than  anywhere 
else,  and  it  is  very  singular  that  you  can  buy  them  the  cheap- 
est at  every  store,  and  they  say,  "  That  is  the  very  lowest, 
and  we  cannot  get  them  any  cheaper."  It  seems  to  me 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  lying  in  business  transactions,  and 
we  want  a  revival  of  honesty,  and  if  men  have  settled  with 
their  creditors  for  twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar  and  could 
have  paid  fifty  cents,  they  need  not  come  to  these  meetings 
and  pray  to  God  until  they  pay  the  twenty-five  cents  which 
they  have  got.  Then  the  world  will  have  confidence 
in  their  Christianity.  Straighten  out  all  these  differences. 
If  a  man  has  defrauded  another  man,  go  and  make  res- 
titution and  people  will  have  confidence  in  your  piety ; 
but  to  come  here  and  pray  and  sing,  and  try  to  cover  up 
these  things  by  loud  singing  and  praying,  is  not  going 
to  deceive  the  Almighty.  You  may  deceive  your  neighbor, 
you  may  deceive  yourselves,  but  you  cannot  deceive  God. 
Let  us  ask  God  to  make  this  work  deep  and  thorough  in 
our  hearts.  I  hope  God  will  revive  our  conscience.  Let 
us  not  call  other  people's  thoughts  superficial,  but  see 
whether  our  own  are  superficial  or  not.  We  want  a  tender 
conscience,  so  that  we  shall  be  honest  and  upright  in  all 
our  transactions,  and  when  that  takes  place  in  the  Church, 
like  Joshua's  army,  they  can  move  on  to  the  works  of  the 
enemy ;  they  can  go  right  through  the  country  and  be  suc- 
cessful ;  and  we  can  expect  not  only  a  revival  here  in  Bos- 
ton but  all  through  the  country. 

When  we  were  in  Chicago,  a  St.  Louis. merchant,  stop- 
ping at  the  Grand  Street  Hotel  on  some  business,  had  a 
friend  who  had  got  to  drinking.  He  heard  that  we  were 
interested  in  trying  to  reach  and  reform  drinking  men,  and 
he  thought  he  would  try  to  get  him  to  come  into  the  meet- 
ing.    The  man  had  not  been   into   a  meeting  for  twenty 


CONFESSING  OUR  SINS.  ^  loi 

years.  The  last  six  months  he  had  been  studying  the  Gos- 
pel of  John,  and  trying  to  prove  that  it  ought  not  to  be  in 
the  Bible,  and  he  had  settled  it  in  his  own  mind  that  it 
ought  not  to  be  there.  He  went  to  the  meeting  and  there 
he  heard  this  hymn  sung — "  Watching  and  Waiting,  "  and 
he  wondered  if  any  one  was  watching  and  waiting  for  him. 
He  went  out  of  the  meeting,  but  he  could  not  get  that 
"  Watching  and  Waiting  "  out  of  his  head.  And  he  went  to 
the  hotel  and  eat  his  dinner,  and  all  the  time  he  kept  saying 
to  himself.  "  I  wonder  if  anybody  is  watching  and  waiting 
for  me,"  and  when  night  came  he  went  to  sleep  and  he  kept 
tossing  on  his  bed  all  night  and  finally  he  got  up  and  knelt 
down  by  the  bed  and  prayed  for  the  first  time  in  his  life. 
He  prayed  that  Christ  would  have  mercy  on  him.  He 
said,  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  take  me  in  Thy  arms."  And 
God  heard  him,  and  now  he  is  one  of  the  best  workers  we 
have.  He  was  converted  on  the  eighth  day  of  October  : 
we  began  on  the  first  day.  We  left  him  there  hard  at  work 
for  Jesus,  and  I  don't  know  how  many  souls  he  has  led  to 
Christ.  I  hope  God  will  bless  the  singing  of  this  hymn  to- 
day to  some  skeptic  who  may  have  come  in  here. 

Oh,  I  do  hope  and  pray  God  that  His  Spirit  may  search 
out  all  heart  achings  in  the  camp  to-day,  and  if  we  have  got 
any  sin  that  is  covered  up  let  us  go  to  God  and  confess  it  and 
ask  Him  to  put  it  away.  Shall  we  not  pray  for  this  to-day? 
Shall  not  this  be  our  cry  ?  There  are  a  great  many  sins 
that  I  have  not  time  to  dwell  upon,  but  if  the  Spirit  of  God 
is  abroad  in  the  congregation  He  will  bring  them  to  3^our 
mind,  "  Lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God." 
There  is  the  sin  of  covetousness.  Are  you  not  guilty  of 
any  of  them  ?  Let  us  ask  God  to  search  us  and  see  if  there 
be  any  evil  way  in  us. 


UNHOLY  AMBITIONT. 


For  the  past  week  we  have  been  at  these  noon  meetings 
looking  at  the  obstacles  that  are  in  the  way  of  working  for 
Christ.  Of  course  that  has  brought  us  to  ourselves,  for  we 
are  the  only  ones  that  can  hinder  the  work  of  Christ  in  this 
city.  He  could  not  do  many  mighty  works  there  on  account 
of  their  unbelief,  and  if  there  is  unbelief  and  coldness  in 
our  hearts  God  is  not  going  to  do  many  mighty  works  here. 
But  to-day  I  was  not  going  to  talk  about  unbelief,  but  about 
another  enemy,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  enemies,  and 
that  is  ourselves.  I  think  we  will  find,  if  we  search  our 
hearts  by  the  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  self  is  mixed  up 
with  about  all  we  undertake  to  do  for  God.  We  read  in  ist 
Corinthians,  loth  chapter,  part  of  the  31st  verse,"  Whatso- 
ever ye  do,  do  all  for  the  glory  of  God."  Do  all  for  the  glory 
of  God.  Now  suppose  we  ask  ourselves  this  question  :  Have 
we  been  working  for  God  with  the  right  motive  ?  Has  it 
been  God's  work  or  our  own  that  we  have  been  doing? 
Has  seif  been  crucified,  and  has  God's  glory  been  the  up- 
permost thought  in  our  hearts  ?  I  was  very  much  impressed 
some  time  ago,  in  finding  this  unholy  ambition  constantly 
coming  out  in  the  lives  of  those  men,  that  Christ  chose 
to  follow  him ;  and  it  seemed  very  strange  that  after  they 
had  been  with  Him  three  years  they  had  not  got  the  lesson 
from  Him.  It  seems  about  the  hardest  lesson  for  us  to 
learn.  It  seems  about  the  hardest  thing  to  get  to  the  end 
of  self  ;  but  when  we  have  got  to  the  end  of  self,  and  self 
is  lost  sight  of,  self-seeking  and  self -glory  thrown  aside,  and 
Christ  and  His  cause  are  uppermost  in  our  hearts,  how 


UNHOL  Y  ambition: 


103 


easy  it  is  for  God  to  use  us.     In  the  9th  chapter  of  Mark, 
31st  verse,  are  these  words  : 

"  For  he  taught  his  disciples  and  said  unto  them  :  The 
Son  of  Man  is  delivered  into  the  hands  of  men,  and  they 
shall  kill  him  ;  and  after  that  he  is  killed  he  shall  rise 
the  third  day.  But  they  understood  not  that  saying,  and 
were  afraid  to  ask  him.  And  he  came  to  Capernaum  ; 
and  being  in  the  house  he  asked  them,  What  was  it  that 
ye  disputed  among  yourselves  by  the  way  ?  " 

While  He  was  talking  about  His  death  and  suffering 
they  had  a  dispute  on  hand.  There  was  a  falling  out  among 
the  herdsmen.  By  the  way  they  had  disputed  among  them- 
selves as  to  who  should  be  the  greatest.  Is  not  the  same 
spirit  abroad  in  the  Church  to-day  1  Is  not  the  great  ques- 
tion too  often,  Who  shall  be  the  greatest  ?  Is  not  that  one 
of  the  great  obstacles  we  have  to  contend  with,  who  shall 
be  greatest?  And  He  sat  down  and  called  the  twelve 
unto  Him  and  said  to  them. 

"  If  any  man  desires  to  be  first,  the  same  shall  be  the 
last  of  all  and,  servant  of  all. 

"  And  he  took  a  child,  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them  : 
and  when  he  had  taken  him  in  his  arms  he  said  unto 
them  :  Whosoever  shall  receive  one  of  such  children  in 
my  name,  receiveth  me  :  and  whosoever  shall  receive  me, 
receiveth  not  me,  but  him  that  sent  me.  And  John  an- 
swered him,  saying  :  Master,  we  saw  him  casting  out  dev- 
ils in  thy  name,  and  he  foUoweth  not  us,  and  we  forbade 
him,  because  he  followeth  not  us.  " 

There  the  same  spirit  is  coming  out  again.  He  did  not 
believe  in  his  work.  He  did  not  belong  to  our  party  or 
congregation  ;  he  did  not  belong  to  our  sect  or  party,  and 
so  we  forbade  him.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  spirit  in 
these  times.  It  lays  down  at  the  bottom.  We  want  to 
build  up  our  cause,  and  we  have  not  charity  enough  to  al- 
low other  men  to  use  their  own  methods.  So  Adab  and 
Medab  prophesied  and  they  were  compelled  to  suffer  be- 
cause they  were  not  of  the  seventy.     But  God  rebuked  that 


104  ^^^  '^/-^'  PEOPLE. 

spirit,  as  we  see,  and  Jesus  said,  "  Forbid  him  not ;  for 
there  is  no  man  which  shall  do  a  miracle  in  My  name  that 
can  lightly  speak  evil  of  Me.  For  he  that  is  not  against 
us  is  for  us." 

What  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this,  that 
while  Christ  was  talking  about  His  death  and  suffering 
at  Jerusalem,  these  very  men  were  discussing  who  should 
be  the  greatest.  While  Christ  is  rejected  by  the  world  how 
many  people  are  discussing  the  same  question.  Who  shall 
be  the  greatest  t  What  a  strife  it  is,  who  shall  be  the  great- 
est and  who  shall  shine  the  most  in  this  world  !  Oh,  that  God 
would  give  us  grace  enough  to  get  self  under  our  feet ;  to 
get  over  this  terrible  self-seeking  and  to  get  at  the  end  of 
self!  Now  it  seems  singular,  if  you  turn  over  to  the  loth 
chapter  of  Mark,  32d  verse,  the  same  thing  occurs  again. 

"And  they  were  in  the  way  going  up  to  Jerusalem  ;  and 
Jesus  went  before  them ;  and  they  were  amazed ;  and  as 
they  followed,  they  were  afraid.  And  He  took  again  the 
twelve,  and  began  to  tell  them  what  things  should  happen 
unto  him.  Saying,  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem  ;  and 
the  Son  of  man  shall  be  delivered  unto  the  chief  priests 
and  unto  the  Levites  ;  and  they  shall  condemn  Him  to 
death  ;  and  shall  deliver  Him  to  the  Gentiles :  And  they 
shall  mock  Him,  and  shall  scourge  Him,  and  shall  spit  upon 
Him,  and 'shall  kill  Him  ;  and  the  third  day  He  shall  rise 
again."  You  would  have  thought  that  surely  would  have 
filled  their  hearts  with  sorrow — that  they  were  going  to 
mock  Him,  and  spit  upon  Him,  and  to  kill  him,  and  then 
that  He  was  going  to  rise  again.  You  would  have  thought 
they  surely  would  have  been  filled  with  astonishment,  but 
see  what  took  place.  "  And  James  and  John,  the  sons  of 
Zebedee,  came  unto  Him,  saying,  Master,  we  would  that 
Thou  shouldst  do  for  us  whatsoever  we  shall  desire.  And 
He  said  unto  them  :  What  would  ye  that  I  should  do  for 
you  ?     They  said  unto   Him  :    Grant  unto  us  that  we  may 


I  'NHOL  y  AMIU  TIOX.  j  o  5 

sit,  one  on  Thy  right  hand  and  the  other  on  Thy  left  hand 
in  Thy  glory.'  "  Who  shall  be  greatest  ?  Again.  'I'hcre 
they  were  seeking  to  be  greatest  that  they  might  have  a 
seat  on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left  hand.  "  But  Jesus 
said  unto  them  ;  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask  ;  can  ye  drink 
of  the  cup  that  I  drink  of,  and  be  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism that  I  am  baptized  with?  And  they  said  unto  Him  : 
We  can.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them :  Ye  shall  indeed 
drink  of  the  cup  that  I  drink  of,  and  with  the  baptism  that 
I  am  baptized  withal  shall  ye  be  baptized  ;  but  to  sit  on 
My  right  hand  and  on  My  left  hand  is  not  Mine  to  give  ; 
but  it  shall  be  given  to  them  for  whom  it  is  prepared.  And 
when  the  ten  heard  it  they  began  to  be  much  displeased 
with  James  and  John." 

Then,  you  see  jealousy  came  in  there  and  they  were  much 
displeased  with  James  and  John. 

"  But  Jesus  called  them  to  him,  and  saith  unto  tl-^m,  Ye 
know  that  they  which  are  accounted  to  rule  ever  the  Gen- 
tiles exercise  lordship  over  them  ;  and  their  great  ones 
exercise  authority  upon  them. 

"  But  so  shall  it  not  be  among  you  ;  but  whosoever  Avill 
be  great  among  you,  shall  be  your  minister  : 

"  And  whosoever  of  you  will  be  the  chiefest,  shall  be 
servant  of  all.  For  even  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ran- 
som for  many." 

He  did  not  come  to  be  administered  unto,  but  He  came 
to  administer — came  to  be  a  servant,  and  now  we  want  the 
spirit  of  the  Master.  If  you  will  allow  me  the  expression, 
this  eternal  spirit  of  seeking  to  be  great  is  one  of  the  great- 
est obstacles  to-day  in  the  Church  of  God.  Oh,  may  God 
take  it  from  our  hearts,  and  may  we  have  the  spirit  of  the 
Master  ;  may  we  know  what  it  is  to  have  the  same  mind 
that  was  in  Christ,  and  he  that  will  be  great  let  him  be  the 
least  of  all,  and  when  we  have  got  at  the  end  of  this  self- 
seekinor  and  are  nothins:  in  the  sight  of  God,  then  we  are 


io6  '^'0  ALL  PEOPLE. 

fit  channels  for  God  to  speak  through  !  It  says  here  in 
Jeremiah  :  "  Seekest  thou  great  things  for  tliyself.  Seek 
them  not."  Oh,  how  it  has  got  into  the  Church,  and  not 
only  into  the  pews,  but  it  has  crept  up  into  the  pulpit,  un- 
holy ambition  there,  not  so  much  for  the  glory  of  God  but 
for  our  own  glory  !  We  like  to  see  large  congregations,  and 
take  the  glory  to  ourselves,  and  then  we  cannot  work,  for 
God  has  decreed  that  no  flesh  shall  glorify  in  His  sight, 
and  when  flesh  is  crucified  and  we  have  got  flesh  under, 
then  the  Spirit  of  God  can  work  and  we  have  got  the  glory. 
I  can  imagine  some  of  you  saying :  "  Of  course,  these  dis- 
ciples being  with  Christ  they  very  soon  got  the  lessons 
learned,  and  by  the  end  of  Christ's  ministry  they  got  com- 
plete victory  over  themselves."  But  we  turn  over  to  the 
2 2d  chapter  of  Luke  and  we  find  in  the  23d  verse  these 
words :  It  was  that  last  night  of  the  Supper,  and  one  of 
the  saddest  things  that  ever  took  place  while  He  was  here : 

"  And  they  began  to  inquire  among  themselves  which 
of  them  it  was  that  should  do  this  thing.  And  there  was 
also  a  strife  among  them  which  of  them  should  be  account- 
ed the  greatest." 

There  was  also  a  strife  among  them,  which  of  them 
should  be  the  greatest,  right  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
cross  ;  the  very  night  He  instituted  that  Supper,  the  very 
night  Judas  had  gone  out  to  betray  Him,  the  eleven  were 
up  in  that  guest  chamber  discussing  which  should  be  the 
greatest.  There  was  a  strife  among  them.  My  friends, 
let  us  ask  God  to  search  our  hearts  and  see  if  we  have  got 
any  of  that  spirit  in  us.  Let  us  see  if  we  have  any  of  that 
spirit  that  Christ's  disciples  had.  "  Who  shall  be  greatest  ?  " 
God  could  not  use  them  then.  If  a  man  is  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  there  is  none  of  this  spirit  there  ;  none  of  this 
jealous  spirit,  "who  shall  be  greatest,"  because  if  a  man  is 
full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  then  there  is  no  room  for  the 
world ;  then  there  is  no  room   for  self ;  then  there  is  no 


UXnOLY  AMBrJ'IOX.  -  107 

room  for  unholy  ambitions  and  unholy  desires  ;  then 
there  is  no  room  for  self-seeking  and  lauding  self,  but  a 
man  will  have  the  mind  that  Christ  had  when  he  is 
filled  with  that  spirit.  Let  us  ask  God  to  keep  us  from 
all  jealousy  and  from  all  unholy  ambition,  and  make  us 
Christ-like  in  all  our  ways.  "  He  shall  learn  from  Me 
for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  they  shall  find  rest 
for  their  souls."  It  is  an  humble  man  that  has  rest  for  his 
soul :  a  man  that  is  clothed  with  humility  has  rest,  but  the 
man  that  has  not  this  humility  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  does 
not  know  what  rest  is.  Some  one  sent  me  a  few  weeks 
ago  a  few  lines  written  on  that  text,  "  Learn  of  Me,  for  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart."  "  Humility,  the  fairest  and 
loveliest  flower  that  grew  in  Paradise,  and  the  first  that 
died,  has  rarely  flourished  since  on  mortal  soil.  It  is  so 
frail  and  so  delicate  a  thing  that  it  is  gone  if  it  but  look 
upon  itself,  and  they  who  venture  to  believe  it  theirs  prove, 
by  that  single  thought,  they  have  it  not."  Oh,  may  God 
give  us  this  humility  that  we  have  been  talking  about,  that 
each  of  us  may  be  filled  with  this  humility,  so  that  God  can 
shine  through  us  !  Let  us  have  that  hymn,  "  Oh,  to  be 
Nothing."  We  have  sung  it  once  or  twice,  but  I  don't 
think  we  have  it  in  our  hearts.  It  is  easy  enough  to  sing 
it,  but  to  live  in  the  power  of  it  in  our  hearts  is  another 
thing,  and  then  if  a  man  don't  have  the  position  he  wants 
he  will  not  get  angry  but  will  say,  "  Lord,  lay  me  aside," 
or  jealous  and  take  some  one  else.  I  want  Mr.  Sankey  to 
sing  that  hymn  alone  : 

"  Oh,  to  be  nothing,  nothing, 
Only  to  lie  at  His  feet, 
A  broken  and  emptied  vessel/' 


NOTHING  TOO  HARD  FOR  GOD. 


The  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  in  the 
32d,  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  17th  verse.  Jeremiah  had  great 
faith  in  God,  and  his  prayer  took  hold  of  God.  He  says : 
"  Ah,  Lord  God !  behold,  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and 
the  earth  by  thy  great  power  and  stretched-out  arm,  and 
there  is  nothing  too  hard  for  Thee."  Now  I  would  like  to 
give  this  meeting  to-day,  for  the  key-note  of  it,  just  that  one 
sentence, — there  is  nothing  too  hard  for  God.  A  great 
many  things  may  seem  very  hard  for  us,  but  let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  nothing  is  too  hard  for  God.  "  Oh,  Lord  God  ! 
behold  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  by  thy 
great  power  and  stretched-out  arm."  We  talk  about 
Alexander  the  Great  and  Frederick  the  Great,  but  what  are 
all  the  men  that  ever  lived,  what  is  their  power  in  compari- 
son with  God's  power .''  Think  how  God  created  this 
world  ;  think  of  its  mighty  rivers  and  mighty  mountains 
and  its  depths  and  its  plains,  and  yet  some  one  has  said  it 
is  only  a  little  ball  thrown  from  the  hand  of  the  Almighty. 
They  tell  us  that  the  sun  is  thirteen  hundred  thousand 
times  larger  than  this  world.  Supposing  that  is  true  ;  then 
think  of  its  mighty  rivers  and  mighty  mountains.  Some 
one  has  said  it  is  a  ball  of  fire.  Supposing  that  is  true, 
what  a  mighty  wonder  it  is  !  And  we  are  told  that  there 
are  eighty  millions  of  other  suns  that  have  already  been 
discovered,  and  two  billions  four  hundred  millions  of  other 
planets,  and  this  is  the  smallest  of  them  all ;  this  is  but  a 
fringe  about  the  Universal,  or  a  few  outlying  villages  upon 

His  great  Empire.     And  we  are  told  that  light  travels  at 
108 


NOTHING  TOO  HARD  FOR  GOD.  log 

the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  miles  a  min- 
ute, and  it  takes  five  3'ears  for  the  light  of  the  sun  to  reach 
the  nearest  planet.  Now,  if  this  is  true,  think  of  otu-  great 
and  our  mighty  God  !  Now  Jeremiah  had  been  climbing  up 
upon  one  of  these  mountain  peaks,  and  he  said  •  "  Oh, 
Lord  God !  behold,  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the 
earth  by  thy  great  power  and  stretched-out  arm,  and  there 
is  nothing  too  hard  for  thee."  Now  if  God  has  done  all 
these  things,  how  easy  it  is  for  Him  to  convert  your  friends 
and  bless  them  I  It  seems  as  if  this  very  thought  pleased 
the  Lord,  for  here  in  this  very  verse  it  says  :  "  Oh,  Lord  God  ! 
behold  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  by  thy 
great  power  and  outstretched  arm,  and  there  is  nothing  too 
hard  for  thee."  There  is  nothing  too  hard  for  Him. 
Now  let  us  lay  hold  of  this  truth  to-day.  Let  it  sink  down 
deep  into  our  hearts,  and  as  we  pray  for  ungodly  men  and 
those  who  are  ridiculins:  these  efforts,  ridiculing:  our 
prayers,  let  us  get  our  eyes  off  them  and  lift  our  eyes  to 
Him  who  has  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Let  us 
bear  in  mind  that  nothing  is  too  hard  for  God,  and  He 
delights  in  doing  hard  things.  Now,  if  we  have  faith  God 
is  not  going  to  disappoint  us.  We  are  going  to  see  great 
and  wonderful  things,  and  these  men  who  are  bitterly  op- 
posed to  these  efforts  may  be  here  in  a  little  while  praising 
God  with  us.  Infidels,  scoffers  and  unbelievers,  gamblers, 
drunkards  and  vagabonds  are  going  to  be  reached  by  the 
mighty  power  of  God.  While  these  men  are  scoffing  let  us 
pray  God  that  His  spirit  may  fall  upon  them.  We,  perhaps, 
cannot  reach  them  personally,  but  we  can  by  prayer.  Now, 
he  comes  to  Jeremiah,  in  the  33d  chapter : 

"  Moreover,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Jeremiah 
the  second  time,  while  he  was  yet  shut  up  in  the  court  of 
the  prison,  saying, 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  maker  thereof,  the  Lord 
that  formed  it,  to  establish  it ;  the  Lord  is  his  name  ; " 
"  Call  unto  me"*         *         *         =*         *         *         * 


/ 


no  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Some  of  you  may  have  wondered  what  good  it  will  do 
to  make  these  requests  for  prayer.  But  the  Lord  tells  us 
that  we  are  to  make  our  requests  known.  People  say : 
"  Does  God  answer  prayer .?  "  Well,  He  says  so  and  I 
will  take  His  word  for  it.  Now,  my  friends,  let  us  call 
upon  Him.  He  has  told  us  to  do  it.  Let  us  pray  for 
those  who  do  not  want  our  prayers ;  God  is  able  to  reach 
them.  Let  us  pray  for  infidels  and  scoffers.  There  was  a 
man  when  we  were  in  London  that  got  out  a  little  paper 
called  "  The  Moody  and  Sankey  Humbug."  And  he  used 
to  come  to  the  very  doors  of  the  place  of  meeting  and  sell 
the  paper.  But  after  a  while  the  paper  got  about  run  out 
and  then  he  came  to  the  meetings  and  made  caricatures  of 
what  he  saw.  But  he  was  converted,  and  got  right  up  in 
the  meeting,  and  confessed  what  he  had  been  doing.  Let 
us  not  give  up  a  solitary  man  in  Boston.  God  is  able  to 
reach  these  very  men.  A  great  many  men  who  are  op- 
posed to  this  work  are  so  because  the  Spirit  of  God  is 
troubling  them — they  are  already  troubled. 


CASTING    OUT    DEVILS. 


I  WILL  read  the  9th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according 
to  Mark  from  the  14th  verse  : 

"  And  when  he  came  to  his  disciples,  he  saw  a  great 
multitude  about  them,  and  the  scribes  questioning  with 
them. 

"  And  straightway  all  the  people^  when  they  beheld 
him,  were  greatly  amazed,  and  running  to  him  saluted 
him. 

"  And  he  asked  the  scribes,  Why  question  ye  with 
them  ? 

"And  one  of  the  multitude  answered  and  said,  Master, 
I  have  brought  unto  thee,  my  son,  which  hath  a  dumb 
spirit. 

"  And  wheresoever  he  taketh  him,  he  teareth  him  :  and 
he  foameth  and  gnasheth  with  his  teeth,  and  pineth  away  : 
and  I  spake  to  thy  disciples  that  they  should  cast  him  out ; 
and  they  could  not. 

"  He  answereth  him  and  saith,  O  faithless  generation, 
how  long  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  How  long  shall  I  suffer 
you  ?  bring  him  unto  me. 

"  And  they  brought  him  unto  him  :  and  when  he  saw 
him,  straightway  the  spirit  tare  him,  and  he  fell  on  the 
ground  and  wallowed,  foaming. 

"  And  he  asked  his  father.  How  long  is  it  ago  since 
this  came  unto  him  ?  And  he  said,  Of  a  child. 

"  And  ofttimes  it  hath  cast  him  into  the  fire,  and  into 
the  water  to  destroy  him  ;  but  if  thou  canst  do  any  thing, 
have  compassion  on  us  and  help  us. 

''Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things 
are  possible  to  him  that  believeth. 

"  And  straightway  the  father  of  the  child  cried  out,  and 
said  with  tears,  Lord,  I  believe  ;   help  thou  mine  unbelief. 

"  When  Jesus   saw  that  the  people  came  running  to 

1^1 


112  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

gether,  he  rebuked  the  foul  spirit,  saying  unto  him,  Thou 
dumb  and  deaf  spirit,  I  charge  thee,  come  out  of  him,  and 
enter  no  more  into  him. 

"  And  the  Spirit  cried,  and  rent  him  sore,  and  came 
out  of  him  :  and  he  was  as  one  dead  ;  insomucli  that  many 
said,  He  is  dead. 

"  But  Jesus  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  lifted  him  up  ; 
and  he  arose. 

And  when  he  was  into  the  house,  his  disciples  asked 
him  privately.  Why  could  not  we  cast  him  out? 

"  And  he  said  unto  them.  This  kind  can  come  forth 
by  nothing  but  by  prayer  and  fasting." 

Here  we  find  the  disciples  in  trouble,  and  on  the  other 
hand  the  scribes,  their  old  enemies,  were  of  course  rejoic- 
ing at  the  unsuccessful  efforts  to  cast  out  this  dumb  devil, 
and  I  think  that  is  really  the  state  of  the  Church  now.  Infidels 
stand  outside  laughing  and  scoffing  because  the  Church  has 
so  little  power.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  disciples  reason- 
ed as  a  good  many  do  now,  that  this  case  was  too  far  gone 
— that  it  was  a  hopeless  case.  They  said,  perhaps  if  he 
could  only  hear  us — if  we  could  only  speak  to  him — we 
might  do  him  some  good  ;  or  if  he  had  the  use  of  his 
tongue,  if  he  was  not  dumb,  so  that  he  could  tell  them  how 
he  felt,  they  might  help  him.  But  as  he  had  been  so  from 
a  child  they  gave  him  up  as  a  hopeless  case  like  the  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  that  are  given  up  now  because  they 
do  not  belong  to  the  Church.  They  think  they  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  Church  and  they  cannot  save  them.  They 
reason  from  a  human  stand-point ;  they  cannot  believe,  but 
when  they  get  their  eyes  off  their  human  audience  and 
look  at  Him  who  sits  on  the  right  hand  of  God  and  re- 
member all  the  power  of  the  heavenly  Saviour,  it  is  a  very 
easy  thing  to  reach  these  men  that  we  look  upon  as  hope- 
less cases.  How  many  fathers  and  mothers  there  are  who 
have  become  discouraged  and  despondent  because  they 
think  their  sons  are  beyond  their  reach,  that  they  have 
passed  beyond  mercy,  and  that   there   is   no   help  and   no 


CASTING  OUT  DEVILS.  1 13 

mercy  for  them  !  Let  us  go  to  fasting  and  prayer.  Let  us 
find  out  what  the  trouble  is.  If  it  is  want  of  faith  let  us 
ask  God  to  increase  our  faith.  Let  us  say,  "  Lord,  I  be- 
lieve ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief."  When  this  unbelief  is 
taken  from  the  Church  it  will  be  full  of  power.  I  want  to 
read  with  this  a  passage  in  2d  Kings,  4th  chapter  26th 
verse  : 

"Run  now,  I  pray  thee,  to  meet  her,  and  say  unto  her,  Is 
it  well  with  thee  t  Is  //well  with  thy  husband  ?  Is  it  well 
with  the  child  .''     And  she  answered,  //  is  well. 

"  And  when  she  came  to  the  Man  of  God  to  the  hill,  she 
caught  him  by  the  feet ;  but  Gehazi  came  near  to  thrust 
her  away.  And  the  Man  of  God  said  :  Let  her  alone,  for 
her  soul  is  vexed  within  her,  and  the  Lord  hath  hid  it  from 
me  and  hath  not  told  me. 

I  haven't  any  doubt  but  that  this  woman  had  been  fast- 
ing. I  believe  she  hadn't  tasted  a  morsel  since  that  child 
died.     She  desired  a  blessing. 

"  Then,  she  said.  Did  I  desire  a  son  of  my  lord  "i 
did  I  not  say,  Do  not  deceive  me  ? 

"  Then  he  said  to  Gehazi,  Gird  up  thy  loins,  and  take 
my  staff  in  thy  hand,  and  go  thy  way  :  if  thou  meet  any  man, 
salute  him  not ;  and  if  any  salute  thee,  answer  him  not 
again  ;  and  lay  my  staff  upon  the  face  of  the  child. 

"  And  the  mother  of  the  child  said.  As  the  Lord  liveth, 
and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not  leave  thee.  And  he  arose 
and  followed  her. 

"  And  Gehazi  passed  on  before  them,  and  laid  the  staff 
upon  the  face  of  the  child,  but  there  was  neither  voice,  nor 
hearing.  Wherefore  he  went  again  to  meet  him,  and  told 
him,  saying,  The  child  is  not  awaked. 

"And  when  Elisha  was  come  into  the  house,  behold,  the 
child  was  dead,  and  laid  upon  his  bed. 

"  He  went  in,  therefore,  and  shut  the  door  upon  them 
twain,  and  prayed  unto  the  Lord. 

"  And  he  went  up  and  lay  upon  the  child,  and  put  his 
mouth  upon  his  mouth,  and  his  eyes  upon  his  eyes,  and 
his  hands  upon  his  hands  ;  and  he  stretched  himself  upon 
the  child,  and  the  flesh  of  the  child  waxed  warm. 

8 


114  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"Then  he  returned  and  walked  in  the  house  to  and  fro  ; 
and  went  up,  and  stretched  himself  upon  him  ;  and  the 
child  sneezed  seven  times,  and  the  child  opened  his  eyes. 

"  And  he  called  Gehazi,  and  said.  Call  this  Shunammite. 
So  he  called  her.  And  when  she  was  come  in  unto  him, 
he  said,  Take  up  thy  son. 

"  Then  she  went  in  and  felt  at  his  feet,  and  bowed  her- 
self to  the  ground,  and  took  up  her  son,  and  went  out." 

I  have  no  doubt  but  that  this  woman  had  been  fasting 
and  had  not  eaten  a  morsel  since  that  child  died  and 
wanted  laying  out.  There  is  faith  and  there  is  faith 
honored.  There  is  the  answer  to  prayer.  But  the  thought 
I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  about  this  Shunammite  wo- 
man is,  that  there  is  one  thing  she  would  not  do.  She 
would  not  trust  in  Elisha's  old  staff  nor  in  the  servant.  She 
got  her  eyes  off  the  staff  and  the  servant  and  placed  them 
on  the  Lord.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  one  clause 
in  that  chapter  of  Mark  that  I  read,  in  the  19th  verse  : 
"Bring  him  unto  me."  You  have,  perhaps,  been  bringing 
your  sons  and  daughters  to  the  church,  and  running  after 
this  or  that  man,  but  the  Lord  says,  "Bring  him  unto  me." 
Have  faith.  Let  us  have  faith  in  Christ.  There  are  some 
"  ifs  "  in  the  Bible  that  are  the  devil's  "  ifs."  This  man 
in  Mark  put  the  "  if  "  in  the  wrong  place.  But  the  man  in 
the  4th  chapter  of  Luke  put  it  in  the  right  place.  He 
said,  ''''If  thou  wilt  thou  canst  make  me  clean."  The 
man  in  Mark  got  it  in  the  wrong  place,  for  he  said,  "  if 
thou  canst."  Let  us  get  the  "  if  "  out  of  the  way — "  thou 
canst  make  me  clean."  God  can  do  it.  My  friends,  may 
God  help  us  to-day  to  put  the  "  if  "  in  the  right  place.  You 
know  there  is  an  if  in  there.  There  are  some  if:s  in  the 
Bible  that  belong  to  the  devil,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  speak 
of  them  in  that  manner.  When  the  Lord  used  them  He 
put  them  in  the  right  place.  If  you  read  the  fifth  chapter 
of  Luke  you  will  find  that  he  put  the  if  in  the  right  place. 
He    said,  "  If    thou    wilt    thou    canst  make   me   clean." 


CAS7V.VG  OUT  DEVILS.  115 

Now  this  man  in  the  last  chapter  of  Mark  said,  "  If  thou 
canst  do  anything,  have  compassion  on  us,  and  help  us." 
If  He  can,  why  we  know  He  can  let  us  say  as  the  leper  said, 
"Thou  canst  make  me  clean."  Oh,  my  friends,  may  God 
help  us  to  put  the  {/"in  the  right  place  !  "  If  thou  canst  be- 
lieve," all  things  are  possible  with  God.  It  is  an  easy  mat- 
ter for  God  to  save  souls  in  Boston ;  it  is  an  easy  matter  to 
save  all  the  drunkards  in  Boston,  to  call  back  the  wander- 
ing prodigals  all  over  the  country.  Let  us  have  faith  in 
prayer.  If  our  prayers  are  not  answered,  let  us  not  call 
God  to  blame  ;  let  us  not  think  He  is  responsible  for  our 
prayers  not  being  answered.  If  we  are  anxious  to  have 
•our  sons  and  daughters  saved  we  have  got  to  have  faith. 
Let  us  begin  to  fast  and  pray  ;  let  us  search  our  hearts  and 
see  if  there  be  any  evil  way  in  us.  God  does  not  regard 
iniquity  ;  the  Lord  will  not  hear,  much  less  answer  him 
when  he  prays.  Now  let  us  see  if  fasting  and  praying  will 
bring  the  blessing  ;  let  us  see  if  we  have  faith  to  believe 
what  the  Lord  has  promised  He  would  do.  Again,  let  us 
look  and  see  if  it  is  in  accordance  with  His  word.  The 
reason  many  of  our  prayers  have  not  been  answered  is 
because  they  have  not  been  indited  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
What  do  we  want  our  sons  and  daughters  converted  for  ? 
It  is  for  His  Son's  glory  ?  If  it  is  He  will  answer  such 
prayers,  for  it  is  His  delight  to  answer  those  prayers. 
Another  thought  about  this  wonderful  story  I  have  been 
reading  here  to-day  is  this :  that  the  devil  threw  the  man 
down  as  he  was  coming.  How  many  have  started  to  come 
to  Christ  and  the  devil  has  tripped  them  up  before  they 
got  there !  A  man  told  me  in  the  inquiry-room  that  he 
went  down  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings there  in  the  hope  to  find  Christ,  but  lie  got  drunk  soon 

\fter  he   got  there  and  did  not  go  to   the  meetings  at  all. 

"he  devil  tripped  him  up.     And  so  a  great  many  who  had 
.>et  their  heart  on  coming  to  these  inquiry  meetings  are  led 


Ii6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

away  before  they  get  there.  And  another  thought  is  that 
when  the  devil  left  him  he  gave  him  a  blow  which  almost 
killed  him,  but  the  Lord  raised  him  up.  So  it  is  with  peo- 
ple who  are  just  coming  to  Christ.  And  some  who  came 
act  worse  than  they  did  before.  Some  women  have  come 
to  me  and  said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  since  I  have  been  praying 
for  my  husband  he  acts  worse  than  he  did  before  ;  he  acts 
as  though  he  had  got  seven  devils  in  him."  Sometimes 
when  the  Spirit  of  God  wakes  up  these  men  they  wake  up 
ugly  and  very  cross,  but  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  can  cast  out  these  devils  as  He  did  the  dumb  devil 
that  was  brought  to  Him.  Let  the  key-note  of  this  meet- 
ing be  "  Bring  me  unto  Him,"  and  let  us  take  in  the  arms 
of  faith  those  of  our  friends  and  our  relatives,  and  all  who 
want  to  become  Christians,  and  bring  them  to  Christ. 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER. 


I  wiix  read  a  few  verses  in  the  4th  chapter  of  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  commencing  at  the  4th  verse  : 

•'Rejoice  in  the  Lord  alway;  and  again  I  say,  Rejoice. 
Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all  men.  The  Lord 
is  at'  hand.  Be  careful  for  nothing  •,  but  in  everything  by 
prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your  requests 
be  made  known  unto  God.  And  the  peace  of  God,  which 
passeth  all  understanding,  shall  keep  your  hearts  and 
minds  through  Christ  Jesus.  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever 
things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report  ;  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things." 

I  want  now  to  call  your  attention  to  the  6th  and  7th 
verses  :  "  Be  careful  for  nothing,  but  in  everything  by 
prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your  re- 
quests be  made  known  to  God."  Now  it  may  be  that  some 
wonder  why  it  is  that  so  many  of  these  requests  for  prayer 
are  coming  in  here  daily — these  written*,  requests.  And 
perhaps  many  wonder  if  there  is  any  good  in  them.  Now 
it  seems  to  me  to  be  perfectly  Scriptural  :  "  Let  your  re- 
quest be  made'lchown  unto  God."  Pray  for  one  another. 
We  are  told  to  pray  for  the  household  of  faith.  I  pity  the 
child  of  God  who  has  got  into  that  position  that  he  does  not 
want  the  prayers  of  God's  people.  These  prayers  bring  a 
light  among  sorrowing  Christians.  I  think  if  you  should 
go  through  the  city  of  Boston  you  would  find  hardly  a 
family  but  is  passing  through  some  great  sorrow  ;  some  one 
of  its  number  has  been  taken  captive  by  sin,  and  I  do  not 
know  what  should  touch  our  hearts  more  than  these  requests 


IlS  TO  ALL  PLLOI'LE. 

for  prayer,  abbreviated  though  they  are.  They  come  from 
hearts  that  are  burdened,  some  that  are  crushed.  I  re- 
member a  man  talking  against  these  requests,  wanting  to 
know  what  good  they  did,  and  I  was  thinking  of  a  prom- 
inent man  in  one  of  our  cities.  He  had  a  boy  in  the  army, 
an  only  son,  and  he  loved  him  better  than  life.  But  he 
was  a  conservative  man,  and  when  he  came  into  the  meet- 
ing and  presented  that  boy  for  prayer,  the  people  were 
amazed  to  think  that  a  man  of  his  high  position  should  get 
up  and  present  his  boy  for  prayer.  But  God  burdened  his 
heart  that  morning  to  pray  for  his  boy  as  he  never  prayed 
before.  When  he  came  into  the  meeting  and  asked  us  to 
pray,  there  were  a  great  many  who  lifted  their  hearts  \\\ 
prayer  for  the  only  boy  who  was  then  in  front  of  Richmond  ; 
and  during  the  day,  a  despatch  came  that  at  that  very  hour 
while  we  were  praying  for  him  he  was  mortally  wounded 
and  dying — an  only  son.  What  comfort  that  father  has 
had  since  that  prayer  went  up  for  him  at  that  hour.  God 
undoubtedly  burdened  his  heart  to  pray  for  him.  If  God 
burdens  your  heart  don't  be  ashamed  to  pray  yourself  and 
ask  your  friends  to  pray  for  you.  If  you  have  a  son  or  a 
daughter  that  you  are  anxious  about,  go  and  make  your  re- 
quests known  unto  God  ;  that  is  what  He  tells  us  here  ; 
let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God  ;  don't  be 
ashamed  to  present  them  for  prayer ;  it  shows  our  love 
for  them.  What  better  could  we  do  for  our  children  and 
our  friends  than  to  pray  God  to  bless  them,  and  any  one 
that  would  get  angry  because  we  prayed  for  them  must 
show  they  are  under  the  power  of  the  devil,  they  must  have 
their  hearts  hardened  and  be  very  blind  !  To  me  it  is  very 
encouraging,  day  after  day,  to  see  so  many  people  coming 
out  here  to  pray,  and  these  requests  coming  in,  not  only 
from  Boston,  but  from  all  New  England.  It  shows  that  God 
is  laying  upon  the  hearts  of  His  people  this  burden  of  prayer, 
and  shall  not  we  all  pray  that  this  blessed  work  that  has  so 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER.  n^ 

gloriously  commenced  shall  deepen,  and  that  there  may  be 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  scoffers  and  men  that  are  mak- 
ing light  of  these  requests  and  jeering  at  our  prayers,  that 
they  may  become  convicted  and  converted  ?  Our  God  is 
able  to  break  the  hardest  hearts.  Let  us  make  our  re- 
quests known  unto  God,  and  let  us  expect  He  will  give  us 
an  answer.  He  is  constantly  answering  prayer  for  the 
sons  and  daughters  that  have  been  presented  here,  and  in 
other  places  sons  and  daughters  who  have  been  presented 
for  prayers  have  been  saved.  I  just  heard  from  Chicago  ; 
one  church  took  in  162  members  w^hile  we  were  there, 
and  the  next  communion  they  took  in  500  members. 
God  is  answering  prayer.  My  dear  frends,  let  us  keep  on 
praying.  God  is  able  to  save  these  people,  and  there  is 
none  but  God  who  does  answer  prayer.  Don't  let  infidelity 
come  in  and  make  us  believe  that  God  has  got  a  deaf  ear 
and  cannot  answer;  or  that  His  arm  is  shortened  and  He 
cannot  deliver.  Our  God  is  a  prayer-answering  God.  How 
many  mothers  have  had  their  sons  and  daughters  saved, 
not  through  some  sermon,  but  by  the  mighty  power  of  God 
converting  them  ! 

There  is  just  one  thought  in  the  passage  I  have  read 
which  I  think  you  are  ready  to  hear.  It  was  suggested  to 
me  by  an  Englishman  some  time  ago,  and  I  am  anxious  to 
call  your  attention  to  it.  It  occurs  in  the  6th  verse : 
"Be  careful  for  nothing,  but  in  everything,  by  prayer  and 
supplication  with  thanksgiving,  let  your  request  be  made 
known  unto  God."  He  says  there  are  three  things  enjoin- 
ed upon  us  in  this  passage.  First,  that  we  should  be  care- 
ful for  nothing ;  second,  that  we  should  be  prayerful  for 
everything,  and  third,  that  we  should  be  thankful  for  any- 
thing. Careful  for  nothing,  prayerful  for  everything,  thank- 
ful for  anything.  We  should  not  be  troubled  about  any- 
thing that  may  happen  to  us,  but  should  always  go  to  God 
hi  prayer  for  all  our  wants,  and  should  be  thankful  for  any 


120  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

answer  we  may  get  to  our  petitions.  A  great  many  people 
get  discouraged  because  they  pray  for  temporal  blessings 
— for  what  is  not  good  for  them.  God  does  not  answer 
such  prayers,  and  they  ought  to  thank  Him  for  it.  Now 
the  men  who  are  taken  up  the  most  prominently  in  Scrip- 
ture, perhaps  the  most  eminent  men  who  ever  lived,  don't 
get  their  prayers  answered.  It  is  no  sign  that  God  does 
not  love  us  because  we  don't  get  our  prayers  answered  as 
^  ■^e  want  them  answered.  There  is  Moses,  whom  God  takes 
*'  up  more  than  any  man  in  the  Old  Testament.  He  prayed 
J  as  no  one  else  prays.  He  was  a  man  of  prayer,  and  we 
can  hear  him  praying  God  to  take  him  over  the  sea  into 
the  goodly  land.  But  God  did  not  answer  his  prayer — 
not  because  He  did  not  love  him,  but  because  He  had 
something  else  in  store  for  him.  We  can  imagine  Him 
talking  to  Moses  as  a  mother  to  a  child,  who  is  asking  for 
j  something  she  does  not  wish  him  to  have.  God  says  : 
'  "  That  will  do,  Moses  !  I  hear  you,  I  know  you  want  to 
go  over  there  pretty  bad,  but  I  am  not  going  to  let  you  go. 
'  It's  no  use."  But  God  did  for  him  that  which  was  much 
<  greater  than  any  answer  to  his  prayer  could  have  been. 
He  did  for  him  what  He  never  did  for  any  other  man.  He 
conferred  upon  him  the  greatest,  the  most  sublime  distinc- 
tion He  could  give  to  any  mortal.  God  buried  him.  He 
could  not  see  the  promised  land,  and  as  some  one  has 
beautifully  expressed  it,  "  God  kissed  his  soul  away."  God 
did  not  answer  his  prayer.  Yes,  He  did  answer  it,  if  that 
which  happened  later  could  be  called  an  answer.  He  did 
answer  it  fifteen  hundred  years  afterwards,  when  he  appear- 
ed with  Eliason  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  It  appear- 
ed that  his  prayer  w^as  not  answered.  But  it  was  answer- 
ed at  last.  So  it  was  with  Elijah.  There  he  was  praying 
under  the  juniper-tree,  He  was  praying  that  he  might  die. 
But  God  did  not  answer  his  prayer.  But  it  was  by  the 
power  of  prayer  that  he  was  rendered  fearless  when  he  was 


THE  PO  WER  OF  PR  A  YER  1 2 1 

set  before  Ahab.  Look  at  him  calling  down  fire  on  Mount 
Carmel.  All  the  prophets  could  not  call  the  fire  down  ; 
he  prayed  and  the  fire  came.  He  prayed  under  the  juni- 
per-tree that  he  might  die  ;  but  God  did  not  answer  his 
prayer.  Why  not  ?  Because  it  would  have  been  a  dis- 
grace to  God — the  man's  dying  there  under  the  juniper-tree. 
God  loved  him  too  well  to  answer  his  prayer.  God  does 
not  answer  our  prayers  sometimes  because  we  ask  for 
things  that  would  be  harmful  to  us.  We  would  get  a  good 
many  things  we  ask  for  if  God  did  not  love  us  too  well  to 
answer  our  prayers.  A  man  was  shaving  himself  once, 
and  his  little  boy  came  up  to  him  and  said,  "  Father,  let  me 
have  the  razor."  And  his  father  said  :  "  Why,  my  boy, 
what  do  you  want  it  for.? "  "  Oh,  I  just  want  to  whittle  a 
little  with  it;  I  just  want  to  play  with  it."  The  father 
said,  "  No,  I  cannot  let  you  have  it,  my  boy.  You  will 
cut  yourself."  '' No,  I  won't!  I  want  it,  it  shines  sol" 
The  father  said,  "  You  cannot  have  it."  Do  you  say  the 
father  did  not  love  the  boy  ?  He  loved  him  too  well. 
Now  there  are  a  great  many  of  God's  people  who  are  just 
like  this  little  boy.  They  are  praying  for  razors.  God 
knows  what  we  want  more  than  we  do  in  temporal 
things.  God  loves  us  too  well.  There  was  Paul.  He 
prayed  and  prayed  earnestly  that  God  would  take  the 
thorn  out  of  his  flesh.  But  God  said  :  "  That  will  do,  Paul ; 
I  cannot  do  it.  The  thorn  must  remain — it  will  give  you 
more  ^race."  Then  Paul  thanked  God  for  the  thorn. 
He  wouldn't  have  it  out  if  he  could,  because  he  got 
more  grace  by  it.  These  things  bring  us  closer  to  Christ. 
All  prayers  are  not  answered  just  as  we  want  them  answer- 
ed. He  loves  us  just  the  same  if  we  don't  get  them  an- 
swered just  as  we  want  them  answered.  We  may  rely  upon 
it,  God  has  got  something  better  in  store  for  us.  We  can 
pray  for  the  conversion  of  friends  because  God  likes  that. 
Let  us  go  boldly  and  call  God  to  convert  our  friends  and 
God  will  hear  and  answer  our  prayers. 


FORGIVENESS. 


"  I  WOULD  like  to  call  your  attention  to  these  verses, 
which  you  will  find  in  the  nth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  Luke. 

'•  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  as  he  was  praying  in  a  cer- 
tain place,  when  he  ceased,  one  of  his  disciples  said  unto 
him,  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as  John  also  taught  his  disci- 
pies. 

"And  He  said  unto  them,  When  ye  pray,  say.  Our 
Father  which  art  in  Heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy 
kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  Heaven,  so  in 
earth. 

"  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread. 

"  And  forgive  iis  our  sins  :  for  we  also  forgive  every 
one  that  is  indebted  to  us.  And  lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion, but  deliver  us  from  evil." 

This  prayer  is  a  test  of  discipleship.  It  is  called  the 
Lord's  prayer,  but  it  would,  perhaps,  be  better  to  call  it  the 
disciples'  prayer  ;  the  Lord's  prayer  more  properly  is  the 
17th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  Christ's  disciples  came 
to  Him  and  said,  "Lord,  teach  us  how  to  pray" — that  is, 
Christ's  disciples — "  as  John  also  taught  his  disciples." 
And  then  He  taught  them  a  prayer.  Now  I  am  not  going 
to  take  up  that  whole  prayer,  but  will  first  call  your  atten- 
tion to  that  fourth  verse  :  "  And  forgive  us  our  sins  ;  for 
we  also  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us."  There 
is  no  one  but  a  disciple  can  say  that.  A  man  that  is  not 
born  of  God  cannot  begin  to  say  it,  it  is  not  in  his  power ; 
he  may  try  to  do  it,  but  he  cannot ;  there  is  enmity  there ; 
and  that  is  the  true  test  of  discipleship,  if  a  man  can  forgive 


FORGIVENESS.  123 

those  that  have  trespassed  against  him,  those  that  have  in- 
jured him.  There  was  one  place  we  were  in  and  we  were 
trying  to  find  out  the  obstacles  that  were  in  the  way  of 
Go'l's  working,  and  we  were  trying  to  put  the  plough  down 
into  the  city — some  of  you  who  have  ploughed  where  the 
ground  is  full  of  rocks  and  stumps  know  that  the  plough 
will  not  stay  in  when  it  hits  against  a  rock  or  stump — so 
we  were  trying  to  plough  and  kept  running  away  against 
obstacles.  At  last  we  found  that  two  prominent  ministers 
in  the  place  hadn't  spoken  together  for  a  number  of  years. 
We  went  to  work  and  tried  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation, 
and  these  men  didn't  see  how  they  could  forgive  one 
another.  It  seems  to  me — if  you  will  allow  me  to  use  the 
word — a  perfect  farce  to  preach  for  forgiveness  if  the  min- 
ister is  not  ready  to  forgive,  especially  when  the  public 
know,  and  the  public  say,  "It  is  very  well  for  him  to  talk 
about  my  forgiving  my  enemies,  but  he  will  not  forgive  his." 
If  we  are  going  to  preach  forgiveness  let  us  begin  to  for- 
give others  ourselves.  Now,  what  we  want  is  to  practice 
what  we  preach.  If  we  are  going  to  preach  repentance,  we 
must  repent  ourselves.  Now  can  we  say  that  disciples' 
prayer  from  the  heart?  Is  there  any  one  that  we  cannot 
forgive  ?  If  there  is,  our  prayers  cannot  go  out  of  this 
building. 

There  was  a  man  came  to  me  once  and  wanted  me  to 
go  round  to  his  house  and  talk  with  his  wife  ;  she  was  anx- 
ious to  talk  about  her  soul.  I  went  round  and  talked  and 
explained  to  her  the  way  of  life,  and  then  I  got  down  and 
asked  hei  to  pray,  and  she  made  one  of  the  most  earnest 
prayers  I  ever  heard.  When  she  got  off  of  her  knees,  I 
said  :  "  Any  light  ?  "  "  No,"  she  said,  "  it  is  darker  than 
ever."  I  talked  and  talked,  but  she  didn't  see  the  way. 
The  next  day  I  went  back  again  ;  it  grew  darker  and  darker, 
and  it  looked  as  though  she  was  going  out  of  her  mind. 
Finally  I  thought  of  this  text  as  a  test  (I  suppose  God  put  it 


124  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

right  into  my  heart  just  at  that  time),  and  said,  "  Let  us 
repeat  the  disciples'  prayer."  She  began,  and  when  she  re- 
peated "  forgive  me  my  trespasses,  as  I  forgive  those  that 
trespass  against  us,"  I  said,  "  Can  you  say  that  from  the 
heart  ?  "  "  No,"  she  said,  "  there  is  one  woman  I  never  will 
forgive."  I  had  found  it.  We  got  off  our  knees,  and  I 
said,  "  It  is  no  use  to  pray  any  longer."  "  What  do  you 
mean  .''  "  she  said  ;  "  do  you  mean  that  God  is  not  going 
to  forgive  me  if  I  don't  forgive  that  person  ?  "  I  said,  "  That 
is  what  He  says  ;  you  cannot  get  all  you  ask  for  if  you 
won't  forgive,  and  you  must  not  expect  to."  "Do  you  mean 
to  say  I  cannot  get  into  heaven  without  asking  that  per- 
son's forgiveness  1 "  "Well,  there  is  the  word  of  God,  and 
you  cannot  expect  to  be  forgiven  yourself  if  you  are  not 
ready  to  forgive  others."  And  she  said,  "  I  will  not  be- 
come a  Christian  !  "  and  I  left,  and  the  last  I  heard  of  her 
she  had  gone  out  of  her  mind,  and  some  infidels  say  re- 
ligion drove  her  out  of  her  mind,  but  it  was  the  want  of 
it,  that  is  what  it  was. 

See  Matthew  xviii.  21  :  "  Then  came  Peter  to  him,  and 
said,  Lord,  how  oft  shall  my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I 
forgive  him  ?  till  seven  times.''  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say 
not  unto  thee.  Until  seven  times :  but  until  seventy  times 
seven."  That's  490  times,  and  you'll  lose  count  before 
you  get  there.  That  is,  keep  forgiving  all  the  time.  If 
you  keep  running  to  God  to  forgive  you,  you  ought  to  be 
willing  to  forgive  others.  "Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  likened  unto  a  certain  king,  which  would  take 
account  of  his  servants.  And  when  he  had  begun  to  reck- 
on, one  was  brought  unto  him  which  owed  him  ten  thou- 
sand talents."  A  talent  is  $1000,  and  therefore  he  owed 
the  Lord  a  large  debt,  in  the  neighborhood  of  $10,000,000. 
"But,  forasmuch  as  he  had  not  to  pay,  his  lord  command- 
ed him  to  be  sold,  and  his  wife  and  children,  and  all  that 
he  had,  and  payment   to   be  made.       The  servant  there- 


FOR  GI VENESS.  1 2  5 

fore  fell  down  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  have 
patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  Then  the 
Lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with  compassion,  and 
loosed  him,  and  forgave  him  the  debt."  Ten  thousand 
talents — he  forgave  it.  "  But  the  same  servant  went  out, 
and  found  one  of  his  fellow-servants,  which  owed  him  a 
hundred  pence,  and  he  laid  his  hands  on  him,  and  took 
him  by  the  throat,  saying,  "  Pay  me  that  thou  owest  me." 
One  hundred  pence,  a  small  bill — about  $15.  Think  of 
it.  "  And  his  fellow-servant  fell  down  at  his  feet  and  be- 
sought him,  saying.  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay 
thee  all."  The  same  words,  you  see,  he  had  said  himself, 
"  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all."  "And  he 
would  not ;  but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison  until  he 
should  pay  the  debt.  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw 
what  was  done  they  were  very  sorry,  and  came  and  told  unto 
their  lord  all  that  was  done.  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had 
called  him,  said  unto  him,  O  thou  wicked  servant,  I  for- 
gave thee  all  that  debt  because  thou  desiredst  me.  Shouldst 
not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow-servant, 
even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  "  You  see  the  reason  from 
the  verse.  If  God  forgives  us  10,000,000  sins  shall  not  we 
forgive  a  man  who  has  committed  one  sin  against  us  1  If 
God  forgives  us  a  debt  of  $10,000,000  shall  not  we  forgive 
another  a  debt  of  100  pence  t  Shall  we  not  forgive  others 
if  our  sins  are  more  numerous  than  the  hairs  on  our  head, 
and  He  has  forgiven  them  all  ?  "  And  his  lord  was  wroth, 
and  delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should  pay  all 
that  was  due  unto  him.  So  likewise  shall  my  Heavenly 
Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not 
everyone  his  brother  their  trespasses."  Bear  in  mind  this, 
that  God  wants  forgiveness  from  the  heart.  Not  this  kind 
of  forgiveness  :  "  I  will  forgive,  but  not  forget ;"  that  is  not 
forgiveness  at  all.  That  is  not  from  the  heart,  but  from 
the  head.     When  we  forgive  from  the  heart  it  is  forgotten. 


126  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

and  that  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible.  If  we  want  to  preach 
to  others  we  must  probe  our  own  hearts  first.  Let  us  see 
that  there  is  no  root  of  bitterness  in  us  against  any  one  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  That  Book  preaches  no  other  doc- 
trine but  to  forgive  freely,  as  God  has  forgiven  us.  That  is 
the  spirit  of  Calvary  ;  but  may  it  be  wafted  upon  Boston. 
That  is  what  will  break  the  heart  of  the  world.  If  the  Son 
of  God  forgave  his  persecutors  in  that  way,  so  ought  we  to 
be  willing  to  forgive  those  who  have  trespassed  against  us. 
I  remember  we  were  in  a  town  holding  meetings,  some 
few  years  ago,  and  I  was  off  in  a  room  talking  with  a  young 
lady  who  was  in  school,  and  I  did  not  seem  to  get  along 
very  well,  and  could  not  find  out  what  the  trouble  was. 
Off  at  the  other  side  of  the  room  my  wife  was  talking  with 
another  young  lady,  and  at  last  I  found  out  what  the 
trouble  was.  She  said,  "  I  have  had  trouble  with  that 
young  lady."  "  Well,  "  I  said,  "  it  is  very  clear  you  can- 
not expect  God  to  forgive  you  until  you  forgive  her."  The 
struggle  went  on  for  some  time,  and  my  wife  found  out 
what  was  the  matter  with  the  other  young  lady,  and  that  it 
was  the  same  thing.  It  so  happened  that  they  started 
about  the  same  time  to  ask  each  other's  forgiveness.  They 
met  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  one  of  the  most  joyous 
meetings  I  ever  witnessed,  threw  their  arms  around  each 
other,  and  both  speaking  at  the  same  time,  said,  "  I  want 
you  to  forgive  me."  The  Lord  God  met  them  right  there. 
If  we  want  to  get  a  blessing,  be  willing  to  ask  the  forgive- 
ness of  those  whom  we  have  had  hard  fellings  against. 
Let  us  be  willing  to  ask  them  to  freely  forgive  us.  When 
we  were  in  Chicago  there  was  a  business  man  who  was 
going  to  take  lunch  with  me ;  he  came  in  late.  I  said, 
"  How  is  this  t  I  thought  you  were  coming  in  right  after  tlie 
meeting  "i  "  "  Well,  "  said  he,  naming  another  prominent 
business  man,  "I  had  trouble  with  him  six  months  ago, 
and  I  could  not  eat  my  dinner  until    I    went  down  and 


FORGIVENESS.  127 

asked  his  forgiveness."  Tliere  was  a  good  deal  of  that  in 
Chicago,  and  that  is  one  reason  why  I  think  the  work  was 
so  great.  Let  us  have  that  here.  If  there  is  anybody  in 
Boston  that  any  of  you  ought  to  forgive  go  and  do  it  right 
(away.  And  that  is  what  we  are  to  do.  I  can  imagine 
some  of  you  say,  "  Tliey  won't  forgive  me."  But  go  to, 
tliem  and  ask  their  forgiveness.  I  cannot  make  others 
forgive  me,  but  I  can  forgive  them.  We  must  have  noth- 
ing but  love  in  our  hearts.  If  they  hate  us  and  their  hearts 
are  filled  with  the  fire  of  hell  asrainst  us,  we  will  fori^ive 
them  in  spite  of  that ;  and  we  can  love  men  whether  they 
love  us  or  not,  and  when  we  are  right  with  God  He  will 
speak  through  us  and  use  us  and  not  till  then. 


THANKSGIVING. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  in  the  105th  Psalm.  There  is 
a  good  deal  said  in  Scripture  about  giving  thanks,  and  I 
think  we  would  get  a  good  deal  more  from  the  Lord  if  we 
thanked  Him  for  what  He  does  give  us. 

*'  O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord  ;  call  upon  his  name : 
make  known  his  deeds  among  the  people. 

"  Sing  unto  him  :  sing  psalms  unto  him  :  talk  ye  of 
all  his  wondrous  works." 

A  church  that  is  full  of  praise  will  always  be  full  of 
song.  Cold  churches  do  not  sing  much ;  they  hire  quar- 
tettes to  do  it  for  them.  When  a  man  is  full  of  praise  he 
sings.  A  young  convert  told  us  last  night  he  was  singing 
most  of  the  time,  "  What  a  Friend  We  have  in  Jesus  ?  " 
When  the  Lord  converts  us  ♦He  puts  a  new  song  into  our 
mouths,  and  if  we  are  not  willing  to  sing  it  is  a  sign  that 
we  have  not  received  the  Spirit  of  God.  They  sing  in 
heaven,  and  that  is  about  all  we  are  told  in  Scripture  they 
do.  They  do  other  things,  but  they  shout  around  the 
throne  of  God.  They  sing  unto  the  Lord  ;  sing  Psalms 
unto  Him.  That  is  worship.  "  Talk  ye  of  all  His  won- 
drous works."  That  was  the  time  that  David  was  bringing 
the  Ark  up  to  Jerusalem.  There  was  a  great  revival  there, 
and  every  one  was  talking  about  the  Lord.  Now  in  Mala- 
chi  iii.  16,  we  find  "They  that  feared  the  Lord  spake 
often  one  to  another."  Now  people  who  don't  fear  the 
Lord  don't  like  to  have  people  talk  to  them.  No  doubt  a 
great  many  of  them  say,  "  I'm  not  going  to  the  Tabernacle 
to  liave  strangers  talk  to  me."  Now  "  They  that  feared 
the  Lord  spake  often  one  to  another  ;  and  the  Lord  heark- 


THANKSGIVING.  129 

ened  and  heard  it ;  and  a  book  of  remembrance  was  writ- 
ten before  him  for  them  that  feared  the  Lord,  and  that 
thought  upon  his  name."  They  talked  about  His  wondrous 
works.  I  saw  the  last  man  that  came  in  here  to-day.  He 
told  us  last  night  that  a  few  nights  ago  he  was  an  atheist, 
and  last  night  he  went  out  of  yonder  building  rejoicing  in 
the  Saviour.  Mr.  Moody  here  read  from  the  third  to  the 
sixteenth  verse  of  the  same  Psalm,  and  continued  as  fol- 
lows :  He  don't  ask  us  to  give  thanks  to  Him  without 
giving  us  reason  to  give  thanks.  Now  David  had  a  great 
many  ihings  to  be  thankful  for.  Now  let  our  minds  go 
back  over  the  past  few  weeks,  months  or  years  and  see  if 
we  haven't  got  anything  to  thank  God  for,  and  if  we  can 
think  of  anything  we  have  got  to  thank  Him  for  let  us  give 
thanks  to-day.  The  Psalmist  says  :  "  It  is  good  to  give 
thanks,"  and  where  you  find  a  healthy  and  joyous  Chris- 
tian 3^ou  find  him  giving  thanks  for  what  the  Lord  has  done 
for  him.  He  is  not  going  round  with  a  long  face  and 
saying  God  hasn't  done  much  for  him.  The  man  who  is 
living  right  with  God  is  always  praising  Him.  The  bless- 
ings He  showers  upon  us  are  more  numerous  than  the 
hairs  of  our  heads.  The  Psalmist,  says,  "  Bless  the  Lord, 
O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  His  benefits."  Remember 
some  of  them,  and  it  would  take  all  day  if  we  remembered 
the  things  we  have  got  to  praise  God  for.  The  object  of 
this  meeting  is  to  give  thanks  for  what  the  Lord  is  doing 
in  our  churches,  our  families  and  in  our  midst.  That  was 
the  way  the  great  revival  spread  in  1857,  from  Maine  to 
Minnesota.  The  cry  went  from  every  town,  and  spread 
from  one  town  to  another.  "  If  the  Lord  is  blessing  yon- 
der town,  why  cannot  we  have  a  blessing  here  ?  "  and  they 
began  to  cry  mightily  to  God  and  the  blessing  came.  I 
don't  see  why  this  should  not  spread  all  over  New  England. 
I  have  got  a  letter  from  Portland,  Me.,  stating  that  there 
never  was  such  a  work  in  the  town  before.     The  City  Hall 

Q 


130  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

is  filled  every  night,  and  overflow  meetings  are  held.  • 
Twenty-five  hundred  people  who  were  not  Christians  came 
together  last  Sunday  evening  who  wanted  to  hear  the 
gospel  preached  !  I  think  the  work  in  Portland  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  things  which  has  taken  place  in  our  day. 
It  seems  as  if  the  Spirit  of  God  has  broken  out  in  that 
town  and  is  breaking  out  all  over  New  England.  Let  us 
praise  God  to-day.  He  does  answer  prayer  ;  and  wliile 
these  infidels  and  skeptics  are  scoffing,  God  is  answering 
prayer.  He  answers  prayer  to  day  as  much  as  He  did  in 
the  day  of  Elijah  and  Moses.  Let  us  not  think  God's  ear 
is  deaf  so  that  He  cannot  hear,  or  His  arm  shortened  so  that 
He  cannot  deliver.  The  Son  of  God  is  moving  on  the 
hearts  of  men  and  many  are  coming  out  of  bondage  into 
light.     Let  us  pray  for  what  God  is  doing  to-day. 


ADDRESS  TO  CHILDREN. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  in  the  19th  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  Matthew,  beginning  at  the  13th  verse  : 

"Then  there  were  brought  unto  him  little  children, 
that  he  should  put  his  hands  on  them  and  pray,  and  the 
disciples  rebuked  them. 

"  But  Jesus  said,  Suffer  little  children,  and  forbid  them 
not,  to  come  unto  me :  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

"  And  he  laid  his  hand  on  them,  and  departed  thence." 

1  have  just  come  from  the  house  of  mourning  (the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  A.  E.  Kittredge,  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  Kittredge 
of  Chicago),  and  my  heart  was  touched  as  I  saw  the  mother 
lying  in  her  coffin,  and  her  oldest  little  girl,  about  nine 
years  old,  that  she  has  been  trying  to  lead  to  Christ.  A 
few  months  ago,  she  wrote  back  from  Chicago  to  her  friends 
in  this  city  that  she  thought  her  two  oldest  children  had 
found  peace  in  believing  in  the  Saviour,  and  she  was  rejoic- 
ing over  their  salvation.  Little  did  she  think  that  to-day 
she  would  be  laid  away  in  the  grave.  Do  you  think  she 
regretted  her  faithfulness  with  those  children  ?  All  this 
winter  while  others  were  being  blessed,  she  was  anxious 
that  her  children  should  be,  and  every  father  and  mother 
ought  to  be  anxious  for  their  little  ones.  We  do  not  know 
how  soon  we  may  be  taken  away  ourselves.  As  I  looked 
at  that  oldest  daughter,  I  said  :  "  Well,  she  never  will  for- 
get her  mother's  teaching ;  she  has  been  faithful,  and  now 
she  is  gone."  I  am  glad  that  this  word  "  little  "  occurs  in 
this  passage.  There  are  many  of  us  who  think  our  children 
too  little  to  be  blessed.     We  do  not  bring  them  to  Christ 


132 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


as  we  ought ;  we  do  not  care  for  their  salvation  as  we 
ought.  To  me  there  is  no  more  beautiful  sight  than  a 
father  and  mother  coming  into  meeting  with  their  children, 
ar;l  lifting  up  their  hearts  silently  in  prayer,  that  the  bless- 
ing may  come  on  their  children  ;  for  the  promises  are  not 
only  to  us,  but  to  our  children,  and  it  seems  to  me  we  ought 
to  be  faithful  to  them.  In  one  of  our  conventions  in  the 
West  several  years  ago  (the  man  had  come  from  the  East 
formerly,  but  he  had  been  out  West  a  good  many  years), 
there  was  a  man  about  seventy  years  of  age  got  up  and  said 
he  could  not  remember  but  one  act  of  his  father ;  he  could 
not  remember  how  he  looked  or  anything  he  said  or  did, 
except  one  cold  winter  night,  a  little  while  before  he  died, 
he  took  up  a  little  chip  and  whittled  out  a  little  cross,  and 
then,  with  tears  streaming  down  the  old  man's  face,  he  told 
the  boy  how  God  had  a  Son,  how  He  sent  that  Son  into 
the  world,  and  how  v/icked  men  put  Him  on  the  cross  and 
crucified  Him,  and  the  story  of  the  cross  made  an  impres- 
sion which  he  never  forgot.  And  I  believe  there  is  no 
story  that  will  impress  our  children  like  that.  While  others 
are  being  blessed  in  this  city  shall  our  children  be  left  out? 
And  if  they  have  got  to  be  brought,  who  can  do  it  better 
than  the  mother  who  is  with  them  all  the  while .''  And  I  am 
glad  to  see  so  many  mothers  here  this  noontide.  1  don't 
feel  so  much  like  talking  as  like  praying  that,  if  God  takes 
us  away  from  them,  they  will  be  gathered  into  the  fold  of 
the  Great  Shepherd,  after  we  are  gone ;  and  if  they  are 
called  away  before  us,  that  we  will  have  no  regrets  that 
they  will  be  in  heaven  awaiting  our  coming.  Let  us  pour 
out  our  hearts,  that  they  may  be  in  glory  and  that  we  may 
be  an  unbroken  circle  in  heaven ;  that  they  may  not  be 
led  away  in  these  dark  days  of  unbelief,  when  Satan  is  so 
persistently  trying  to  lead  so  many  away.  Mr.  Moody 
spoke  with  a  voice  broken  by  emotion,  and  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  remarks  offered  the  following  earnest  prayer  • 


ADDRESS  TO  CHILDREi\.  133 

Our  Heavenly  Father  ;  we  praise  Thee  for  that  word 
to-day,  how  Jesus  said  when  here  upon  earth  :  "  Suffer  little 
children  to  come  unto  me."  O  God  !  help  us  to  bring  our 
little  ones  to  Thee  !  We  want  to  see  our  children  blessed 
in  these  days  of  blessings  while  Thou  art  blessing  others. 
We  pray  that  our  families  may  not  be  overlooked.  We 
pray  that  the  little  ones  may  be  called  early  into  the  fold  and 
hav^e  the  care  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  that  their  little 
hearts  may  be  won  to  Thee  and  that  they  may  grow  up  to 
love  and  serve  Thee,  We  pray  for  these  three  children,  who 
have  been  left  motherless,  mourning  over  a  praying,  loving 
mother  who  has  been  taken  from  them.  O  God !  be  with  them 
and  comfort  them  and  sustain  them,  and  mayst  Thou  raise  up 
some  Christian  friend  to  watch  over  them  and  shield  them 
from  the  dangers  of  the  world.  We  pray  for  the  children 
in  this  city  who  have  no  mother  to  watch  over  them  and 
only  Godless  and  Christless  fathers.  Our  Heavenly  Father, 
we  come  to  pray  especially  for  our  own  children,  represented 
by  the  parents  here  to-day.  O  God  !  make  us  faithful,  help 
us  to  win  them  to  Thee.  May  that  be  the  uppermost 
thought  in  our  hearts,  how  to  win  them  to  Thee  so  that 
they  may  grow  up  to  serve  Thee  and  be  a  blessing  to  the 
Church  of  God  and  to  the  World.  We  do  not  ask  for  them 
riches,  honor  or  position  in  this  life,  but  we  ask  that  Thou 
wilt  give  them  new  hearts  so  that  they  may  serve  Thee  here 
on  earth  and  be  prepared  to  meet  us,  hereafter,  in  eternity, 
to  be  with  us  in  glory  and  not  to  be  lost.  It  may  be  that 
some  father  or  mother  here  to-day  is  mourning  over  a  loved 
son  or  daughter  who  has  been  led  away  by  sin,  who  is  far 
off  in  the  mountains  of  sin  to-day,  who  do  not  believe  on 
their  mother's  God,  or  listen  to  their  mother's  prayers.  Oh, 
that  the  Spirit  from  on  high  may  search  them  out  at  this 
hour,  and  bring  back  these  wandering  children !  O  hear 
our  prayer  to-day,  and  may  we  have  the  spirit  of  prayer 
given  us  that  our  petitions  may  reach  the  throne  of  love^ 


134 


rO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


and  that  blessings  may  come  upon  us  and  that  we  may  have 
the  assurance  that  our  children  shall  be  saved  and  be  one 
with  Thee,  and  Christ  shall  have  the  glory.     Amen. 

Two  years  ago,  when  I  was  in  Liverpool,  a  mother  was 
converted  and  her  heart  went  out  towards  her  boy  in  Bos- 
ton, and  she  began  to  pray  for  him  and  then  she  began  to 
write  him  letters  and  send  him  tracts  and  religious  papers, 
and  endeavored  to  pour  in  truth  in  that  way.  Last  night  her 
son  was  in  the  inquiry-room,  and  he  came  and  told  me 
these  facts,  that  his  mother  had  been  laboring  for  him  two 
years  in  that  way  and  joraying  for  him,  and  last  night  he 
said  that  not  only  had  her  prayers  been  answered  for  him, 
but  his  wife  also  during  the  last  two  weeks  had  found 
Christ,  and  now  both  were  rejoicing  in  the  Saviour.  He 
wanted  me  to  understand  that  it  was  not  my  influence,  but 
his  mother's  influence  in  Liverpool,  that  had  produced  such 
an  effect.  This  shows  that  God  does  answer  prayer.  If 
there  is  a  mother  here  who  has  a  son  hundreds  of  miles 
away  she  may  know  that  her  prayer  can  reach  him. 
There  was  a  man  left  India, — he  was  in  the  army  there, — 
and  he  left  that  distant  land  and  came  to  London  in  order 
to  bring  his  son  to  the  meetings  that  he  might  be  convert- 
ed. Another  father  came  hundreds  of  miles  and  took  his 
children  out  of  school  and  brought  his  whole  family  that 
they  might  be  converted  ;  he  wanted  his  whole  family  to 
be  blessed.  At  first,  his  wife,  who  was  not  a  professing 
Christian,  joined  the  meetings,  and  then  another  one  in  the 
family,  and  before  he  left  the  whole  family  was  blessed. 
And  this  man  and  his  son  attended  our  meetings  in  Man- 
chester and  Liverpool.  They  got  so  blessed  in  the  meet- 
ings they  followed  us  everywhere  we  went.  And  they  went 
to  work  in  the  inquiry-room  trying  to  lead  others  to  Christ. 
My  friends,  it  seems  to  me  the  next  thirty  or  sixty  days  is 
going  to  be  a  harvest-time.  A  man  came  to  me  last  night 
and  introduced  to  me  a  friend.     He  had  brought  him  hun- 


ADDRESS  TO  CHILDREN.  135 

dreds  of  miles  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  he  sat  right  by 
his  side,  and  then  he  took  him  into  the  inquiry-room  and 
talked  with  him  and  finally  he  surrendered  his  will  to 
Christ.  And  he  introduced  him  to  me  as  one  who  had 
accepted  Christ.  Now  it  seems  to  me  that  the  home  is  the 
first  place  where  we  ought  to  work  ;  if  we  cannot  lead  our 
family  to  Christ,  how  are  w'e  going  to  lead  others?  Let  us 
resolve,  God  helping  us,  not  to  let  these  golden  days  pass 
without  believ^ing  upon  Him  and  leading  others  to  Him. 
It  was  not  Zaccheus  alone  that  was  converted,  but  all  his 
children.  Salvation  comes  not  only  to  Cornelius,  but  to 
all  the  little  Corneliuses — the  whole  family.  So  with  the 
jailer;  we  must  not  leave  one  out,  but  take  the  whole  fami- 
ly. Let  us  keep  on  praying.  God  does  answer  prayers. 
These  men  came  hundreds  of  miles  to  lead  their  children 
to  Christ.  It  seems  to  me  we  ought  to  put  forth  more 
effort  to  lead  our  children  to  Christ.  Only  recently  I 
noticed  a  father  from  Chicago  here,  and  he  had  a  friend 
who  wanted  us  to  pray  for  his  son,  and  prayer  was  made 
for  him.  And  he  said  then  if  he  only  thought  his  boy 
would  be  blest  he  was  willing  to  give  up  his  business  and 
bring  his  boy  to  Boston  to  these  meetings.  And  now  he 
has  come  on  and  brought  his  boy  here,  and  I  hope  there 
will  be  power  enough  in  these  meetings  to  cast  out  the 
unclean  spirit  from  that  boy's  heart  and  bring  him  to 
Jesus.  Let  us  unite  our  hearts  in  prayer  to  God  for  this 
young  man.  There  are  others,  fathers  and  mothers  com- 
ing here  from  all  parts  of  the  country  bringing  their  sons, 
here.  I  have  in  my  mind  a  father  who  is  coming  down 
from  New  Hampshire,  his  heart  burdened  for  his  boys  whom 
sin  has  taken  away  from  Christ,  and  he  is  going  to  bring 
them  down  here  to  see  if  they  can  be  brought  back.  Let 
us  ask  God  to  pour  out  His  mercy  on  these  sons  who  are 
coming  here  in  hopes  to  be  saved. 


INTEMPERANCE  ;  THE  WORK  OF  THE  DEVIL. 


I  WOULD  like  to  call  the  atten-tion  of  all  present  to  the 
First  Epistle  of  John,  3d  chapter  and  8th  verse : 

"  He  that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil ;  for  the  devil 
sinneth  from  the  beginning.  For  this  purpose  was  the 
Son  of  God  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil." 

I  am  not  going  to  read  any  more  to-day.  it  is  not  ne- 
cessary. If  we  get  this  into  our  hearts  thoroughly  it  will  be 
enough.  The  Son  of  God  was  manifested  to  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil.  ^Ai  this  terrible  curse  of  intemperance 
is  not  the  work  of  the  devil,  I  do  not  know  what  is.  When 
we  had  our  civil  war  on  hand  there  were  a  great  many  who 
were  driven  to  God  in  prayer,  and  we  thought  that  war  was 
the  greatest  cur^e  that  ever  visited  this  nation.  But  it 
strikes  me  that  this  curse  of  intemperance  is  worse  even 
than  our  civil  war.  That  cut  off  a  great  many  men — ten, 
twenty,  thirty,  perhaps  forty-years  earlier  than  their  time; 
but  think  of  the  men  that  are  being  ruined  body  and  soul 
by  this  terrible  curse  ;  and  my  only  hope  is  that  the  nation 
will  get  their  eyes  open  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  curse,  and 
that  there  will  be  a  cry  going  up  to  God,  as  there  was  dur- 
ing our  war,  that  God  may  wipe  out  this  terrible  iniquity. 
I  noticed  a  few  days  ago  in  the  papers  that  in  Great  Bri- 
tain alone  $600,000,000,  are  spent  anually  for  strong  drink, 
or  $18  each  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  yet  they  are  crying  out  there  about  hard  times, 
and  we  crying  out  about  hard  times  in  this  country.  I  think 
that  if  it  was  not  for  this  cursed  liquor  traffic  we  would  not 

i%6 


INTEMPERANCE ;   THE  WORK  OF  THE  DEVIL.  137 

have  any  hard  times  or  this  bondage  to  intemperate  habits. 
But  we  have  not  come  here  to-day  to  discuss  the  evils  of 
intemperance,  nor  have  we  come  here  to  discuss  who  is  to 
blame  for  it.     If  I  see  a  man  that  has  tumbled  into  the 
river  it  is  not  best  to   inquire  how  he  got  there,  but  the 
question  is  how  am  I  going  to  get  him  out  ?     That  is  the  *^ 
question  before   us  to-day.     What  are   we  going  to  do  to 
stem  this  terrible  torrent  of   iniquity?     We  have  tried  a 
great  many  methods  ;  we  have  had  our  temperance  societies 
and  bands  of  hope,  our  lodges  and  our  reform  club,  and  we 
have  had  the  pledge,  and  I  don't  know  but  I  am  getting 
about  discouraged  with  all  these  things.     I  am  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  only  hope  is  that  the  Son  of  God  \sy< 
to  come  and  destroy  man's  appetite  for  liquor.     You  can- 
not legislate   men  to  be  good.     We  have  appealed  to  our 
Government  and  we  have  failed,  and  now  it  is  time  for  us 
to  appeal  to  God.     It  will  be  a  very  little  thing  for  Him  to 
do.     He  can  save  the   drunkards  of  Boston  as  easily  as  I 
can  turn  over  my  hand.     I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that 
if  the  drunkards  of  Boston  will  only  get  done  leaning  upon  *^ 
their  own  strength  and  call  upon  God  to  destroy  the  appe- 
tite, root  and  branch,  He  will  do  it,  for  He  was  manifested  , 
to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  certainly  this  terrible 
appetite  is  a  work  of  the  devil.     Let  us  put  God  to  the  test-; 
let  us  take  Him  at  His  word,  and  if  the  Son  of  God  was 
manifest  to  do   this  very  thing,  let  us   ask  Him  to   do  it. 
Don't  condemn  the  drunkards.     They  don't  need  that,  for 
they  condemn  themselves  more  than  any  one  else  could  ; 
they  are  to  be  pitied  and  not  condemned.     What  we  want 
is  to  go  to  them  full   of  love   and  tell  them  that  there  is 
power  in  the  Gospel  of  the  Saviour.     When  He  comes  to>^ 
their  hearts  He  will  give  them  victory  over  their  appetites, 
I  used  to  get   discouraged  in   working  in  the   temperance 
cause,  for  I  have  been    a    worker  in  it  ever  since  I  have 
known  Christ ;  but  in  the   last  year  I  have  been  more  en- 


Y38  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

couraged  than  ever  before,  because  I  have  been  working  on 
a  new  line.  I  used  to  appeal  to  men  to  sign  the  pledge, 
and  they  used  to  do  so  and  then  break  them — would 
sink  down  lower  than  ever.  But  I  have  given  that 
all  up  ;  my  only  hope  is  that  they  will  join  Christ 
and  lean  upon  the  arm  of  God — lean  upon  His  almighty 
arm,  and  then  there  is  victory  for  them.  But  some 
of  you  may  say,  "  Don't  these  men  that  profess  to  be 
Christians, — don't  they  fall  too  ?  "  Yes  ;  but  it  is  because 
they  trust  in  their  own  strength ;  but  if  they  trust  in 
God  they  do  not  fall.  Why,  just  take  that  verse  in  the 
41st  chapter  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  the  13th  verse  : 
'*  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God  will  hold  thy  right  hand, 
saying  unto  thee,  Fear  not,  I  will  keep  thee.  In  me  is  thy 
help.'*'  God  can  give  you  help.  If  God  has  got  hold  of 
the  drunkard's  right  hand  Fle  will  not  lead  him  into  the 
rum  saloon  ;  He  will  not  lead  him  into  temptation, 
but  away  from  it ;  and  not  only  that,  if  Satan  trips  him  up 
he  shall  not  fall,  for  God  has  got  hold  of  his  right  hand, 
and  if  the  Lord  God,  who  created  heaven  and  earth,  has 
got  hold  of  the  drunkard's  right  hand  cannot  He  hold  it 
and  keep  it  ?  So  let  us  tell  them  that  there  is  hope,  that 
the  Son  of  Man  was  made  manifest  to  destroy  their  appe- 
tites, and  He  can  do  it  and  take  them  away ;  He  can  turn 
their  taste  against  it,  and  if  that  is  done  it  will  sogn  close 
up  the  saloons  ;  there  is  no  trouble  about  that ;  instead  of 
tr3dng  to  get  bills  through  to  close  them  up  Sabbaths,  close 
them  up  seven  days  in  the  week,  and  if  they  cannot  sell 
liquor  that  will  surely  close  them  up  then.  Well,  that  is 
just  what  we  arc  to  work  for,  the  power  of  God  coming 
upon  these  drunkards  to  save  them.  In  one  of  our  las-t 
temperance  meetings  in  Chicago  a  business  man  got  up 
and  told  the  most  remarkable  story  I  had  heard  for  several 
years.  He  said  that  eight  years  before  he  was  a  confirmed 
drunkard  ;  his  father  used  to  give  him  liquor  when  he  was 


INTEMPERANCE ;   THE  WORK  OF  THE  DEVIL.    139 

a  little  boy  four  or  five  years  old  in  Enj^land  ;  his  father 
tlied  a  vagrant  and  a  drunkard  ;  this  man's  friends  had  all 
left  him  in  Chicago  ;  he  had  been  taken  into  court  and 
pronounced  a  vagrant  and  sent  off  to  jail,  and  his  only  fear 
was  the  policeman  would  get  hold  of  him  ;  his  only  ambi- 
tion was  to  just  keep  out  of  the  hand  of  the  law  and  to 
drink  liquor  all  the  day  and  sleep  at  night  wherever  he 
could ;  and  he  said  one  night  he  went  down  to  the  lake 
shore,  and  there  was  a  terrible  storm,  and  the  first  time  in 
his  life  he  cried  to  God  to  help  him.  That  was  eight  years 
ago,  and  he  said  :  "My  friends,  although  a  vagrant  and  an 
outcast,  God  met  me  there  on  the  lake  shore ;  He  took 
hold  of  my  right  hand  and  I  have  never  had  any  taste  for 
liquor  since  :  He  has  kept  me  for  eight  years."  Now  I 
believe  that.  You  may  call  him  a  vagrant  or  what  you 
like.  I  believe  the  statement  he  made,  and  God  destroyed 
it,  root  and  branch.  And  that  is  what  we  want  in  Boston, 
and  I  have  no  other  hope  for  Boston.  Shall  not  that  be 
our  prayer  1  Shall  not  that  be  our  cry  .''  And  I  don't  care 
where  the  drunkard  is — in  what  part  of  New  England  he 
may  be — if  he  will  only  send  up  the  cry  from  his  heart  to 
God  in  heaven,  "  Oh,  my  God  save  me  1  "  He  will  save 
hi  in,  and  then  he  will  get  done  trusting  himself  and  trust- 
ing his  own  resolution.  How  many  times  have  men  told 
me  that  they  have  gone  and  taken  blood  out  of  their  veins 
and  signed  the  pledge,  gone  before  a  magistrate  and  taken 
an  oath,  gone  and  bowed  down  upon  their  mother's  grave 
and  swore  by  the  love  they  had  for  their  mother  they  would 
never  touch  it,  and  inside  of  thirty  days  they  were  down  in 
the  gutter  again!  Some  people  tell  us  that  there  is  some- 
thing very  noble  in  all  men,  and  appeal  to  that  noble  thing 
in  a  man  and  he  will  rise  above  it.  But  I  have  got  done 
appealing  to  that ;  I  appeal  to  God  in  heaven — that  is 
where  to  appeal.  Men  haven't  got  the  power.  If  they  had, 
the  Son  of  Man  would  never  have  come  into  this  world  to 


140  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

save  men.  If  they  have  the  power,  what  need  for  Him  to 
come — what  need  for  the  Son  of  Man  to  make  himself  mani- 
fest ?  He  was  manifest  beciuse  they  hadn't  the  power  to 
be  so  manifest  as  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil  ;  and  I 
have  done  telling  men  to  reform  themselves — they  cannot 
do  it ;  and  when  they  have  got  to  the  end  of  reforming 
themselves  and  will  come  to  God,  He  will  help  them.  Let 
us  bow  our  heads  in  sjlent  prayer,  and  pray  that  the  Son  of 
God  will  come  into  Boston  and  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil.  It  is  a  great  petition,  but  He  can  do  it.  Let  us 
spend  a  few  moments  in  silent  prayer. 


INTEMPERANCE  — THE  PRAYER  OF  FAITH. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  from  the  ii  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  according  to  Luke,  commencing  at  the  5th  verse : 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  Which  of  you  shall  have  a 
friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight,  and  say  unto  him, 
Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves  ; 

"  For  a  iriend  of  mine  in  his  journey  is  come  to  me,  and 
I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him  ? 

"  And  he  from  within  shall  answer  and  say,  Trouble  me 
not :  the  door  is  now  shut,  and  my  children  are  with  me 
in  bed  ;  I  cannot  rise  and  give  thee. 

"  I  say  unto  you,  IMiough  he  will  not  rise  and  give  him, 
because  he  is  his  friend,  yet  because  of  his  importunity  he 
will  rise  and  give  him  as  many  as  he  needeth. 

"And  I  say  unto  you,  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ; 
seek,  and  ye  shall  find  ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you. 

"  For  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth  ;  and  he  that 
seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be 
opened. 

"  If  a  son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of  you  that  is  a  father, 
will  he  give  him  a  stone }  or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  wi'll  he  for  a 
fish  give  him  a  serpent  ? 

*'  Or  if  he  shall  ask  an  egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  ? 

"  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto 
your  children  :  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father 
give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ? 

"  And  he  was  casting  out  a  devil,  and  it  was  dumb.  And 
it  came  to  pass  when  the  devil  was  gone  out,  the  dumb 
spake ;  and  the  people  wondered. 

"  But  some  of  ihem  said,  He  casteth  out  devils  through 
Beelzebub  the  chief  of  the  devils." 

There  are  a  few  thoughts  that  I  want  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  here  ;  that  is,  this  man  went  for  bread.  He  had  a 
purpose ;  he  had  an  object  in  view  ;   he   went  for  some- 


142  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

thing  j  and  if  we  only  go  to  God  with  a  purpose,  with  some 
object  in  view,  we  will  not  come  away  empty.  But  there 
are  a  great  many  times  that  we  pray  and  really  do  not. ask 
for  anything ;  we  call  it  prayer,  but  we  really  don't  ask 
for  anything.  Importunity  has  three  names,  asking,  seek- 
ing, and  knocking,  and  if  the  blessing  doesn't  come  by 
asking  we  are  to  seek  and  find  out  the  reason,  and  if  it 
doesn't  come  by  seeking  we  are  to  knock  and  knock  and 
knock  till  the  door  is  opened.  The  door  may  seem  to  be 
made  of  granite,  and  no  one  hears  us  inside,  but  we  have 
the  promise  that  if  we  keep  knocking  it  will  be  open- 
ed. I  think  a  great  many  of  us  can  learn  lessons  from 
children  :  I  have.  You  have  sometimes  been  in  the  house 
when  the  children  were  playing,  rolling  a  hoop  around  the 
room,  or  playing  with  a  ball  or  some  toy,  and  they  would  cry 
out,  "  Mamma,  I  am  thirsty.  I  want  some  water  ;  "  but 
they  go  on  rolling  their  hoop  and  their  mother  thinks  they 
are  not  very  thirsty,  and  don't  get  them  any  water.  In 
a  little  while  they  say,  "Mamma,  I  am  hungry.  I  want 
something  to  eat."  But  the  child  goes  on  playing  with  its 
hoop  and  the  mother  does  not  trouble  herself.  By  and  by 
they  repeat  their  request  with  the  same  result,  but  at  last 
they  leave  everything,  they  have  got  done  asking,  and  go  to 
seek  and  to  find  out  why  their  mother  does  not  give  them 
the  bread  or  water.  There  are  a  great  many  people  who 
ask  and  never  wait  for  an  answer.  In  fact,  they  would  be 
greatly  surprised  if  the  answer  came.  You  often  hear  of 
people  who  have  been  praying  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  and 
when  the  answer  came  they  would  say :  "  Isn't  that  a  won- 
derful thing?  " 

When  we  pray  let  us  ask,  and  expect  that  we  are  going 
to  get  what  we  ask  for,  and  not  only  that.  You  would  be 
very  much  annoyed  if  some  one  should  wake  you  up  at  two 
or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  not  want  anything.  I 
had  a  man  come  to  my  house  at  that  hour,  and  he  knocked 


INTEMPERANCE— THE  PRAYER  OF  FAITH.      143 

and  rang  the  bell,  and  finally  kicked  on  the  door  so  as  to 
make  the  whole  house  tremble.  I  heard  him  then,  and 
lifted  up  the  window  and  inquired  :  "  Who  is  there  ? "  He 
told  me  his  name,  and.  I  said:  "What  do  you  want?" 
"  Oh,"  he  said^  "  I  was  just  passing  through  Chicago  and 
thought  I  would  call  and  say  how  do  you  do  ?  "  I  was 
very  much  provoked  at  the  idea  of  getting  out  of  bed  at 
that  hour  to  find  a  man  who  merely  wanted  to  ask  how 
I  was.  Now,  my  friends,  we  want  to  go  to  God  and  ask 
for  something.  Bear  in  mind  if  it  don't  come  by  asking, 
we  will  seek  until  we  find  out  why  ;  and  if  it  does  not 
come  by  seeking,  let  us  knock  and  keep  knocking  until 
the  blessing  comes.  We  have  got  an  object  to-day  before 
us  ;  I  don't  know  of  any  meetings  which  touch  my  heart 
as  these  Friday  meetings.  I  don't  know  of  anything  that 
takes  hold  of  my  sympathies  and  heart  as  those  requests 
did  to-day.  Think  of  the  hundreds  of  homes  that  are  dark 
and  cheerless,  and  for  the  sake  not  only  of  these  heart- 
broken wives  and  crushed  and  wretched  mothers  and  their 
little  children,  but  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  let  us  pray  for 
these  men,  that  they  may  be  reclaimed.  There  is  a  story 
told  of  a  governor  in  New  Jersey,  that  he  was  sought  by 
an  Irish  woman  to  release  a  man  that  was  to  be  hung  ; 
she  came  day  after  day  until  he  was  so  troubled  that  he 
gave  orders  not  to  let  her  in  his  ofiice — he  could  not  be 
troubled  any  more  with  her  ;  but  one  day  he  went  into  his 
office  and  she  had  got  in  there  by  some  strategy,  and  she 
brought  her  ten  children  with  her  ;  tlie  ten  children  fell 
on  their  knees  and  cried,  "  Governor,  pardon  my  father." 
and  the  mother  said,  "  for  the  sake  of  these  ten  children 
spare  the  life  of  my  husband."  It  touched  his  heart  and 
the  life  of  her  husband  was  spared.  For  the  sake  of  these 
children  and  the  bruised  and  broken-hearted  mother  let 
us  pray  to  the  God  of  heaven  to  save  the  drunkard.  Let 
us  have  faith  to  pray.     Oh,  may  God  increase  our  faith  ! 


INTEMPERANCE :— HE  FORGIVETH  OUR 
INIQUITIES. 


I  WILL  read  a  part  of  the  103d  Psalm.  I  want  to  call 
your  attention  to  five  words  in  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth 
verses  of  this  Psalm  :  "  Who  forgivelh  all  thine  iniquities." 
"Forgiveth" — that  is  what  the  Lord  wants  to  do  with  every 
man  and  every  woman  gathered  in  this  building  to-day. 
But  He  d(^es  more  than  forgive.  You  might  have  a  prod- 
igal boy  that  would  go  off  like  the  one  we  read  of  in  the 
15th  chapter  of  Luke,  and  in  some  foreign  country  con- 
tract some  disease  and  come  home  and  repent  of  his  sins 
and  ask  you  to  forgive  him,  and  you  might  forgive  him,  but 
you  could  not  heal  him.  But  the  Lord  does  more  than 
forgive  :  He  forgiveth  all  our  iniquities,  and  healeth  all  our 
diseases.  Now  some  people  say  that  they  have  become  so 
addicted  to  strong  drink  that  it  has  become  a  disease  with 
them  ;  never  mind,  bring  it  to  Christ — He  will  heal  all  thy 
diseases.  I  would  not  give  up  a  man  because  his  own 
power  over  himself  is  gone  ;  it  is  the  power  of  God  that  is 
going  to  save  him,  not  his  own  ;  and  if  a  man  is  so  given 
to  drink  that  it  is  a  disease,  don't  become  discouraged  and 
think  there  is  no  hope  for  that  man. — "  He  forgiveth  all 
thine  iniquities.  He  healeth  all  thy  diseases.  He  restoreth 
thy  soul."  He  forgiveth  and  healeth.  If  a  man  only  brings 
his  disease  to  Christ;  if  he  only  brings  this  appetite  to  the 
Son  of  God,  God  is  able  to  forgive  him  and  heal  him.  But 
He  does  more  than  forgive  and  heal.  A  man  may  be  for- 
given and  healed,  but  Christ  redeemeth  his  life  not  from 
the  power  of  Satan,  but  from  the  hands  of  justice.     Every 


INTEMPEKA  NCE.  1 4  rj 

man  who  has  sinned  and  transgressed  the  law  of  God,  oh  ! 
"  He  redeemeth  thy  life  from  destruction" — that  is  what 
God  wants  to  do,  He  will  redeem  every  drunkard  in  this 
town  if  he  wants  to  be  redeemed  and  is  willing  to  be  re- 
deemed for  God's  glory,  if  his  aim  is  to  glorify  God,  A 
man  need  not  come  to  God  to  get  rid  of  his  appetite  if  he 
means  to  be  an  infidel,  to  sow  tares  if  he  means  to  fight 
against  God.  Perhaps  it  is  better  that  he  should  go 
into  a  drunkard's  grave  than  to  sow  tares  and  do  what  he 
can  to  destroy  the  Lord's  works.  He  does  more  than  for- 
give, heal  and  redeem,  "  He  crowneth  thee  with  loving- 
kindness  and  tender  mercies."  Every  child  of  God  that 
has  been  redeemed  is  crowned  with  loving-kindness  and 
tender  mercies,  and  the  blessings  of  Heaven.  But  there 
are  a  great  many  people  who  have  the  crowns  but  are  not 
satisfied.  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  great  many  crowned 
heads  in  Europe  are  dissatisfied  and  they  do  not  know  what 
peace  and  comfort  are.  He  does  more  than  crown.  He 
satisfieth.  There  are  five  precious  things  that  the  Lord 
gives  every  one  that  believeth  in  Him  :  Forgiveth  all  thine 
iniquities,  healeth  all  thy  diseases,  redeemeth  thy  life  from 
destruction,  crowneth  thee  with  loving-kindness  and  tender 
mercies,  and  satisfieth.  You  cannot  get  any  higher  than 
satisfaction.  What  does  a  man  want  more  than  that?  That 
is  the  top  round  of  the  ladder,  and  the  angels  of  heaven 
cannot  get  any  higher ;  the  redeemed  in  glory  cannot  get 
any  higher;  that  is  the  very  highest  to  which  we  can  go, 
my  friends.  Satisfieth — God  will  satisfy  every  one  of  us  if 
we  will  only  come  to  Him.  That  is  just  what  He  wants  to 
do.  Oh,  may  God  help  us  to  come  to  Him  to-day !  No 
wonder  the  Psalmist  says,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul  ; "  he 
had  got  something  to  bless  the  Lord  for,  and  if  you  will  only 
take  Christ  as  God's  gift,  and  your  way  and  your  portion,  you 
will  have  something  to  praise  God  for.  I  hope  every  man 
that  is  a  slave  to-day  to  strong  drir^k  vyill  come  just  as  he 

10 


146  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

is,  and  ask  God  to  heal  all  your  diseases,  to  redeem  your 
life  from  destruction,  crown  you  with  loving-kindness  and 
tender  mercies,  and  satisfy  your  soul.  He  can  do  it.  He 
longs  to  do  it.  God  will  grant  your  requests.  The  sinner 
wants  to  get  in  the  place  of  receiving  and  put  God  in  the 
place    of   giving,    and    then    salvation   will   flow  into   his 

*  soul.  Before  we  have  a  few  moments  of  silent  prayer 
I  would  like  just  to  make  a  statement  that  may  en- 
courage you  to  pray.  At  the  young  men's  meetings 
and  at  other  meetings  we  have  had,  at  the  Friday  meet- 

/  ings  and  at  the  small  meetings  this  week,  there  have 
been  a  great  many  who  have  been,  as  we  believe,  saved  by 
the  answer  to  prayer.  They  have  been  deprived  of  their 
appetite  for  strong  drink.  It  shows  that  God  is  already 
commencing  to  answer  our  prayers.  I  say  this  to  encourage 
you  to  pray.  It  has  just  been  reported  about  again  that 
those  who  have  been  drunkards  and  reformed  don't  stand, 
and  now  that  is  being  denied.  I  have  just  got  a  letter  this 
week  from  Philadelphia,  for  I  had  heard  that  one^f  several 
hundred  men  who  had  been  saved  in  that  city  had  fallen, 
and  so  I  wrote  back  there  to  inquire  about  it,  and  I  got  this 
letter  in  answer  from  the  man  himself,  saying  that  he  had 
only  been  down  for  a  few  days,  but  he  had  been  raised 
again  by  the  power  of  God,  so  that  the  very  day  this  letter 
was  written  he  was  leading  the  noon  prayer-meeting.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  greatest  drunkards  in  Philadelphia, 
but  God  had  heard  and  answered  his  prayer.  Some  may 
say  that  because  these  men  have  been  saved,  it  is  no  sign 
that  they  have  been  reclaimed.  A  great  many  of  us  Chris- 
tians have  done  a  good  many  things  since  we  were  con- 
verted that  we  ought  not  to  have  done,  and  I  don't  see  why 
we  should  cast  these  men  off  because  they  have  fallen. 
Instead  of  trying  to  help  them  some  seem  to  rejoice  at  it, 
and  call  their  neighbor's  attention  to  it,  and  say,  "  Now  see 
how  that  man  has  fallen,"  Let  us  try  to  raise  him  instead 


INTEMPERANCE.  147 

of  rejoicing  in  his  fall.  It  seems  as  though  you  were  doing 
the  devil's  work  when  you  rejoice  at  a  man's  fall  instead  of 
trying  to  raise  him  up.  Go  to  work  and  get  him  away  from 
the  devil  if  you  can.  The  devil  has  got  him  down — a  good 
many  are  trying  to  help  the  devil  keep  him  down.  Because 
a  man  has  fallen  again  it  is  no  sign  he  has  not  been  reclaim- 
ed. I  tell  you  Christ  will  heal  the  backslider  and  get  him 
on  his  feet  again  ;  He  has  saved  hundreds  of  men  in  that  way. 
A  man  came  into  our  meeting  in  the  Hippodrome  the  last 
night  we  were  there,  and  I  have  been  anxious  to  hear  how 
he  was  getting  along,  and  this  week  I  heard  from  him.  He 
was  not  only  a  tramp,  but  he  had  got  down  about  as  low 
as  any  tramp  could  get.  His  will  power  was  all  gone.  He 
had  only  rags  to  cover  his  nakedness.  He  was  as  filthy  and 
as  far  gone  as  any  man  I  have  ever  seen.  He  came  into 
the  Friday  meeting  and  stayed  at  the  second  meeting,  and 
some  friends  prayed  with  him ;  whether  they  effected  any 
change  in  him  at  that  time,  I  don't  know.  He  told  them 
he  didn't  know  anything  about  Jesus.  He  said,  "  He  won't 
answer  my  prayer,  I  am  so  great  a  sinner."  But  this  was 
his  experience  as  he  narrated  it  to  me  afterwards.  He  said 
he  had  a  fifteen-cent  scrip  in  his  pocket,  and  he  said  the 
first  day  after,  "  If  the  Lord  will  help  me  keep  that  piece 
of  scrip  twenty-four  hours  I  will  take  that  as  a  token  He 
will  answer  my  prayer.  If  I  shall  just  be  able  to  walk 
through  the  streets  of  New  York  twenty-four  hours  without 
spending  it  for  whiskey  I  will  take  that  as  an  answer  to  my 
prayer."  He  had  no  place  to  lay  his  head,  but  wandered 
about  the  streets  all  that  time,  and  when  he  came  back  to 
me  afterwards  and  I  asked  him  how  he  was  getting  along, 
all  he  said  was  *'  I  have  got  it  now."  I  heard  from  him 
last  week,  and  he  said  "  I  have  got  it  now."  He  hadn't 
spent  it  for  whiskey.  He  says  he  intends  to  keep  that 
piece  of  currency  as  long  as  he  lives.  God  help  him  to 
do  it !     That  shows  how  God  can  save  the  poor  drunkard. 


148  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Let  us  believe  in  prayer.  Before  we  have  a  silent  prayer, 
I  would  like  to  read  a  request  from  a  little  child  :  "  Dear 
Christian  (written  in  a  childish  hand),  will  you  please  pray 
for  my  father  ;  he  is  a  drunkard,  and  for  that  cause  I  am 
without  a  home,  and  when  you  pray  for  him,  remember 
me,  a  little  girl."  Oh,  may  God  bless  the  little  girl !  and  may 
God  hear  our  prayers  and  save  that  father  !  Let  us  have  a 
few  moments'  silent  prayer.     Let  us  all  pray. 


INTEMPERANCE—"  THE  CASTING  OUT  OF  THE 
UNCLEAN   SPIRIT." 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  in  the  5th  chapter  of  Mark. 

"  And  they  came  over  into  the  other  side  of  the  sea, 
into  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes. 

"  And  when  lie  came  out  of  the  ship,  immediately  there 
met  him  out  of  the  tombs  a  man  with  an  unclean  spirit, 

"Who  had  his  dwelling  among  the  tombs;  and  no  man 
could  bind  him,  no,  not  with  chains  : 

"  Because  that  he  had  been  often  bound  with  fetters  and 
chains,  and  the  chains  had  been  plucked  asunder  by  him 
and  the  fetters  broken  in  pieces;  neither  could  any  man 
tame  him." 

That  was  what  we  would  call  a  pretty  bad  case.  They 
could  not  take  him  and  bind  him. 

"  And  always,  night  and  day,  he  was  in  the  mountains 
and  in  the  tombs,  crying,  and  cutting  himself  with  stones." 

He  had  a  dwelling  among  the  tombs,  among  the  graves, 
and  was  cutting  himself  with  stones.  That  is  what  every 
drunkard  is  doing.  He  is  marring  the  temple  the  Holy 
Ghost  would  dwell  in.  He  is  cutting  himself  with  stones, 
and  no  man  can  save  a  drunkard  now,  any  more  than  they 
could  this  man  then.  They  had  tried  him  and  failed  ;  they 
had  bound  him  in  chains  and  fetters  but  he  had  broken 
them  ;  they  had  tried  to  tame  him,  but  they  could  not. 
He  was  what  we  call  now  a  hopeless  case,  beyond  the  reach 
of  man.  Christ  always  liked  to  get  hold  of  those  cases. 
Where  man  fails  He  likes  to  come  in  and  show  His 
mighty  power  of  saving  men. 

"And  always,  night  and  day,  he  was  in  the  mountains 
and  the  tombs,  crying,  and  cutting  himself  with  stones." 

149 


i^o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

He  had  his  dwelling  among  the  dead:  that  is  where 
every  sinner  has  his  dwelling. 

"  But  when  he  saw  Jesus  afar  off,  he  ran  and  worshipped 
him, 

"  And  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  and  said,  What  have  I 
to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  the  most  high  God  ? 
I  adjure  thee  by  God,  that  thou  torment  me  not." 

Even  the  devils  knew  it  was  the  Son  of  God. 

They  knew  who  He  was  and  where  He  came  from  and 
what  He  came  to  do.  "  I  adjure  thee  by  God,  that  thou 
torment  me  not."  That  is  the  false  idea  that  people  have 
— that  Christ  comes  to  torment  them.  Instead  of  that  He 
comes  to  bless  them.  They  think  that  He  comes  to  cast 
them  down,  but  instead  of  that  he  comes  to  lift  them  up;  they 
have  the  idea  that  Christ  is  going  to  make  them  wretched,but 
instead  of  that  He  wants  to  give  them  peace  and  joy. 
He  wants  to  save  men  and  cast  out  these  unclean  spirits. 
I  have  an  idea  that  this  rum  devil  is  the  worst  we  have 
nowadays,  and  it  takes  just  as  much  power  to  cast  them 
out  as  it  took  to  cast  the  devil  out  of  this  man.  I 
think  no  other  power  will  do  it.  People  say,  "  Assert 
your  manhood,"  but  man  has  not  the  power  to  overcome 
the  flesh,  the  world  and  the  devil. 

"For  he  said  unto  him.  Come  out  of  the  man,  thou  un- 
clean spirit. 

'  And  he  asked  him.  What  is  thy  name  ?  And  he  an- 
swered, saying.  My  name  is  Legion  :  for  we  are  many. 

"  And  he  besought  him  much  that  he  would  not  send 
them  away  out  of  the  country. 

"  Now  there  was  nip;h  unto  the  mountains  a  ^reat  herd 
of  swdne  feeding. 

"  And  all  the  devils  besought  him,  saying,  Send  us  into 
the  swine,  that  we  may  enter  into  them. 

"  And  forthwith  Jesus  gave  them  leave.  And  the  un- 
clean spirits  went  out  and  entered  into  the  swine  :  and  the 
herd  ran  violently  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea  (they  were 
about  two  thousand)  ;  and  were  choked  in  the  sea. 

"  And  they  that  fed  the   swine  fled,  and  told  it  in  the 


INTEMPERANCE. 


151 


city,  and  in  the  country.     And  they  went  out  to  see  what  it 
was  that  was  done. 

"  And  they  come  to  Jesus,  and  see  him  that  was  pos- 
sessed with  the  devil,  and  had  the  legion,  sitting,  and  clothed, 
and  in  his  right  mind  :  and  they  were  afraid." 

I  don't  know  where  he  got  his  clothes  ;  perhaps  Peter 
took  off  his  coat  and  gave  it  him.  So  he  was  in  his  right  mind. 

"  And  they  that  saw   it  told  them  how  it  befell   to  him  - 
tliatwas  possessed  with  the  devil,  and  also  concerning  the 
swine. 

"  And  they  began  to  pray  him  to  depart  out  of  their 
coasts." 

They  would  rather  have  a  few  swine  than  have  Christ 
with  all  that  power.  We  should  have  thought  they  would 
have  been  glad  to  have  this  man  saved.  But  there  are  a  good 
many  men  now  of  the  same  mind  ;  rumsellers  and  drunkards 
think  Christ  is  going  to  torment  them  and  make  them 
wretched.  Instead  of  that  He  wants  to  do  them  good  and 
bless  them  and  save  their  souls  from  eternal  death  and 
ruin.  But  their  cry  is,  "  Depart  from  me."  Oh,  how  blind 
a  man  is  when  he  is  under  the  power  of  the  devil,  but  he 
don't  know  it ! 

"  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  ship,  he  that  had 
been  possessed  with  the  devil  prayed  him  that  he  might 
be  with  him.  " 

That  is  a  true  sign  of  conversion — he  wanted  to  follow 
Christ.  Now,  there  were  three  that  prayed  here  :  those 
countrymen  prayed  that  he  might  depart  out  of  their  coasts. 
He  answered  their  prayer  ;  the  devils  prayed,  and  he 
answered  their  prayer  ;  but  this  man,  who  had  been  saved, 
prayed  and  He  didn't  answer  his  prayer.  He  had  got  some- 
thing better  for  him  ;  he  wanted  to  be  with  Him,  he  prayed 
that  he  might  be  with  Him. 

"  Howbeit  Jesus  suffered  him  not,  but  saith  unto  him. 
Go  home  to  thy  friends  and  tell  them  how  great  things  the 
Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath  had  compassion  on  thee. 


152 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


/.^ 


i 


"  And  he  departed  and  began  to  publish  at  Decapolis 
how  great  things  Jesus  had  done  for  him,  and  all  men  did 

marvel." 


L 


I  would  like  to  have  been  in  Decapolis  when  he  got  home, 
must  have  made  no  small  stir,  for  he  was  pretty  well 
y  known  undoubtedly  in  that  whole  town.  He  had  been 
^  the  terror  of  all  women  and  children  within  ten  miles,  and 
they  didn't  dare  to  be  out  after  dark  if  they  heard  him 
groaning  in  those  tombs.  The  leading  men  of  the  place 
had  tried  to  bind  him  in  chains  and  fetters,  and  if  they  had 
had  insane  asylums  they  would  have  put  him  in  there ; 
and  there  he  was,  the  pest  of  the  whole  country.  But  I 
would  like  to  have  been  in  that  house  when  he  got  home. 
I  can  just  imagine  that  his  children  saw  him  coming  across 
the  fields,  and  they  ran  to  their  mother  and  said,  "  Mother, 
papa  is  coming ; "  the  doors  are  locked  and  bolted  and 
barred,  the  children  run  and  hide,  they  were  afraid  of  him, 
like  the  drunkard's  children  are  now.  Those  men  who 
ought  to  love  the  little  ones,  and  the  little  ones  ought  to 
love,  many  of  them  have  become  demons-.-they  have  be- 
come a  terror  to  their  own  families  and  their  children  hide 
away  ;  and  instead  of  his  bursting  into  the  house  as  he  some- 
times did,  smashing  the  furniture,  he  comes  walking  up  to 
the  house,  gently  knocks  at  the  door  after  he  tries  to  get  in, 
and  finds  it  locked  and  bolted,  and  you  can  just  hear  him 
say,  "  Mary,  don't  be  afraid  of  me  any  more  ;  let  me  in,  the 
Lord  Jesus  has  saved  me.  I  have  come  to  tell  you  what 
great  things  He  has  done  for  me."  And  Mary  hears  the 
voice  of  that  loved  one  ;  it  sounds  as  it  used  to  years  be- 
fore, and  she  unlocks  that  door,  she  opens  it  and  she 
receives  him  to  her  bosom,  and  the  little  children  come  out 
from  their  hiding-place,  they  are  no  longer  afraid  of  him. 
Ah,  my  friends,  there  must  have  been  joy  in  that  home. 
And  after  he  had  told  his  wife  and  children  what  great 
things  the  Lord  had  done  for  him  and  how  He  had  com- 


INTEMPERANCE.  153 

passion  on  him,  I  see  he  goes  out  on  the  corners  of  the  1 
streets,  because  the  Lord  told  him  to  go  and  tell  his  friends 
what  great  things  the  Lord  had  done  for  him.  When  a 
man  is  converted  he  goes  and  tells  his  friends  and  does 
not  keep  the  thing  a  secret  within  his  own  family.  I  can 
imagine  that  he  gets  up  on  the  top  of  a  dry  goods  box  on 
the  corner  of  the  street  and  tells  them  how  he  met  Jesus, 
and  how  Christ,  by  the  power  of  His  word,  as  we  were  talk- 
ing about  yesterday,  had  cast  out  these  unclean  devils,  and 
cast  out  the  infernal  spirits  ;  and  I  can  see  two  of  the  citi- 
zens coming  down  by  the  corner  of  the  street,  and  one 
says,  "  Tom,  is  that  the  man  that  we  have  had  so  much 
trouble  with  for  the  past  ten  years  ?  Isn't  that  the  man  we 
have  been  trying  to  tame  ?  Isn't  that  the  man  we  bound  in 
fetters?"  "It  looks  very  much  like  him,  but  it  cannot  be 
him."  "  Let  us  go  back  and  listen  to  him,"  and  they 
went  back  and  listened  to  him,  and  they  hadn't  been  back 
three  minutes  before  they  found  out  it  was  the  same  man, 
but  yet  he  wasn't  the  same  man,  he  was  a  new  man  in 
Christ  Jesus  ;  he  had  been  regenerated,  born  of  God  ;  he 
had  been  born  of  the  Spirit,  he  was  a  new  man,  and  all  men 
marvelled.  And  we  find  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Mark 
that  Christ  was  back  on  the  coast  of  Decapolis.  They 
besought  Him  to  depart  from  their  coasts  ;  but  I  believe  it 
^  is  good  testimony  for  Christ  that  these  men  saw  what  a 
wonderful  thing  He  had  done,  and  perhaps  they  invited  Him 
to  come  back.  He  might  have  been  a  guest  of  this  man, 
and  now  their  testimony  is — "  He  hath  done  all  things  well." 
Yes,  Jesus  does  all  things  well.  My  friends,  you  had  better 
let  Him  save  you  to-day.  Have  you  got  a  bad  appetite  ? 
Do  you  want  to  get  rid  of  it .?  The  Son  of  Man  can  de- 
stroy it.  He  can  take  it  from  you.  He  will  cast  out 
that  rum  devil  if  you  are  willing  to  let  Him  bless  you  to- 
day. I  would  like  to  go  on  talking  longer  about  that  man 
who  went  back  and  told  what  great  things  God  had  done 


xr^  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


for  him.  But  we  have  some  witnesses  to-day,  and  Christ 
has  the  same  power  now  to  save  men  that  He  had  when 
He  was  on  earth.  I  will  call  them  out  and  let  them  tell 
you  what  great  things  God  as  done  for  them. 


COMING  TO  CHRIST. 


I  WILL  read  from  Matthew  xi.  27  :  "All  things  are  de- 
livered unto  me  of  my  Father ;  and  no  man  knovveth  the 
Son,  but  the  Father  ;  neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father, 
save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal 
Him. 

•'  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

"  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me  ;  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls. 

"  For  my  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light." 

Luke  XV.  :  "Then  drew  near  unto  him  all  the  publicans 
and  sinners  for  to  hear  him.  And  the  Pharisees  and  scribes 
murmured,  saying,  This  man  receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth 
with  them." 

The  Pharisees  would  tell  the  truth  now  and  then,  and 
they  never  told  a  more  truthful  thing  than  that.  That  is 
the  glory  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  came  into  the 
world  for  sinners.  He  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost,  and  so  when  the  Pharisees  said  this,  they  told  the 
truth  once  if  they  never  did  before.  There  is  one  more 
text  that  I  want  to  refer  to,  in  John  vi.  37  :  "  Him  that 
Cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  Now  when 
princes  and  kings  of  this  earth  generally  call  people  round 
them  they  generally  call  the  great  and  mighty  and  the 
noble,  but  when  the  Prince  of  peace  was  here  He  called 
publicans  and  sinners  ;  many  of  them  were  outcasts  whom 
most  of  the  people  would  not  associate  with.  He  was  all 
the  time  calling  around  Him  all  classes.  But  the  publi- 
cans and  sinners  flocked  to  Him  because  He  woke  them 
up  to  the  fact  that  they  needed  Him.     There  is  one  pas- 


156  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

sage  of  Scripture  which  is  very  precious  to  me,  and  that  is 
that  Christ  helped  all  men  that  had  need  of  Him.  Now  if 
there  is  a  man  here  to-day  who  has  need  of  Christ  He  will 
help  him.  Any  man  or  woman  in  this  assembly  that  needs 
Christ  can  have  Him.  He  will  give  you  all  the  help  you 
need,  I  don't  care  what  your  besetting  sin  is.  It  may  be 
your  appetite  for  strong  drink.  Bring  that  to  Him.  He 
has  got  power  to  take  that  from  you.  Now  a  good  many 
think  they  would  like  to  come  to  Christ,  but  they  want  to 
get  ready  first.  They  want  to  lop  off  this  sin  and  that  sin 
and  stop  swearing  and  drinking,  and  then  they  will  be 
ready.  That  would  be  like  a  sick  man  waiting  until  he  is 
well  and  then  sending  for  a  physician,  or  like  a  blind  man 
waiting  until  he  recovers  his  sight  and  then  sending  for  a 
doctor.  You  bring  your  sickness  and  your  blindness  to 
Christ  and  then  He  will  help  you.  It  is  the  sick  that  need 
a  physician,  and  not  those  who  are  well.  And  if  there  is  a 
man  here  troubled  with  any  besetting  sin,  I  don't  care  what 
it  is,  let  him  come  to  Christ  and  He  will  help  him,  for  He 
has  promised,  "  Him  thatcometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out."  I  like  those  I  wills — they  are  all  good.  You 
cannot  find  a  man  that  can  honestly  and  truthfully  say  that 
he  came  to  Christ  and  He  didn't  receive  him  and  He  cast 
him  out.  No  man  living  can  say  that,  because  He  has  re- 
ceived all  that  have  come  and  all  that  will  come.  There 
was  a  man  in  our  late  war,  and  as  he  lay  upon  his  cot  (he 
was  a  skeptical  man),  there  was  one  of  those  silent  com- 
forters hanging  on  the  wall  of  the  hospital,  and  this  was  the 
text :  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out."  One  day  he  got  a  letter  from  his  mother  and  was  so 
sick  he  could  not  read  it,  but  the  nurse  read  it  to  him,  and 
this  letter  was  an  earnest  appeal  to  her  boy  to  accept  of 
Christ;  he  was  down  there  in  the  hospital,  and  she  didn't 
know  but  he  would  die  without  her  seeing  him  again,  and 
she  quoted  that  text  to  him,  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  Me  I 


COMING  TO  CHRIST.  1^7 

will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  The  dying  man  said  :  "  That  is 
very  singular,  there  it  is  on  the  wall,  and  my  mother  has 
written  it."  A  day  or  two  after  he  was  much  worse  and 
sinking  rapidly,  and  he  asked  the  nurse  to  read  his  mother's 
letter  again,  and  when  she  got  to  that  text  he  said,  "  Did 
mother  put  that  in  the  letter,  '  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I 
will  in  no  wise  cast  out  ? '  "  "  Yes,"  says  the  nurse.  "  And 
does  the  Bible  say  it  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  And  if  mother  says 
it  and  the  Bible  says  it,  it  must  be  true."  And  dear  friend 
he  believed  and  received  Christ.  It  is  true.  Take  it  just 
as  you  are  :  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out."  May  God  help  every  man  in  this  assembly,  and 
every  woman,  to  come  with  all  their  sins,  and  the  Tord 
will  take  you  to  His  loving  bosom  and  will  hold  you  and 
keep  y^ou  until  that  day. 


PERSEVERANCE. 


You  will  find  my  text  in  the  6th  chapter  of  Galatians, 
9th  verse  :  "And  let  us  not  be  weary  in  well  doing;  for 
in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not."  When  I  was 
talking  about  the  qualification  of  Christian  workers,  the 
first  week  or  two  that  I  was  here,  I  meant  to  have  spoken 
of  perseverance,  but  failed  to  do  so.  I  want,  this  morning, 
to  call  your  attention  to  that  necessary  qualification,  if  we 
are  going  to  be  successful  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  I 
believe  there  are  a  great  many  who  fail  because  they  don't 
persevere.  Now,  it  isn't  the  man  or  woman  who  is  ready 
and  willing  to  work  for  a  few  weeks,  and  if  they  are  not 
successful  give  it  up,  that  reap,  but  those  that  work  on  day 
and  night  and  hold  on  to  the  work.*  "  We  shall  reap." 
There  is  the  promise,  "  if  we  faint  not."  I  haven't  yet 
found  the  first  man  or  woman  who  have  been  at  work  for 
the  Lord  and  kept  persevering  that  has  not  been  successful. 
It  may  take  weeks,  it  may  take  months,  and  it  may  take 
years,  but  they  have  got  His  promise.  There  is  the  word, 
"  We  shall  reap."  Some  people  tell  us  that  we  do  not 
work  enough.  I  presume  there  i-s  a  good  deal  of  truth  in 
it.  I  have  but  little  hope  of  any  spasmodic  effort  where 
men  and  women  are  roused  up  to  work  only  for  a  few 
weeks,  and  if  this  is  all  that  these  meetings  do,  they  will 
be  a  perfect  failure.  There  is  a  good  deal  said  against 
special  and  revival  meetings,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
truth  in  what  some  people  say  of  them.  If  people  are 
roused  up  to  work  for  only  a  few  weeks  or  even  months, 
they  are  almost  a  complete  failure.  What  we  want  is  to 
158 


PERSE  VERANCE. 


159 


persevere,  and  remember  that  we  have  got  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  that  "  we  shall  reap."  Faith  is  an  act  of  the  mind, 
but  work  is  an  outward  sign  of  faith.  You  can't  have  true 
faith  without  having  works,  no  more  than  you  can  have 
fire  without  heat.  A  man  who  tells  me  that  he  has  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  no  impulse  to  work  for  God,  I  doubt  his 
word,  and  I  would  not  give  much  for  his  faith,  because  if 
he  has  faith  and  believes  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he 
cannot  help  working  for  Him.  It  is  just  as  much  a  com- 
mand for  a  man  to  work  after  his  faith  as  it  is  to  remem- 
ber the  Sabbath  day.  Laziness  don't  belong  to  the  new  crea- 
tion j  it  belongs  to  the  old,  and  if  a  man  professes  to  be 
converted,  and  is  not  stirred  up  to  work  for  God,  I  doubt 
his  conversion.  He  may  make  great  professions,  but  when 
he  has  no  desire  to  work  for  God,  that  is  a  true  sign  that 
he  has  not  been  born  of  God.  I  was  for  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  superintendent  of  a  Sabbath  School  in  the  mission 
district  of  Chicago,  and  you  know  it  isn't  easy  work  in 
these  districts.  It  is  sometimes  very  dark  and  discourag- 
ing, when  you  have  doubtless  been  pulling  seven  days  in 
the  week  one  way,  to  get  children  in  when  perhaps  their 
parents  have  been  doing  all  they  could  to  prevent  you 
from  prosecuting  your  work.  It  is  sometimes  pretty  dark, 
like  toiling  all  night  and  not  catching  anything.  I  noticed 
that  the  people  who  got  discouraged,  and  gave  up  their 
classes,  and  went  from  one  school  to  another,  from  one 
field  to  another,  were  never  successful ;  but  those  that  per- 
severed and  held  on,  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month 
after  month — held  right  on,  have  always  been  blessed. 
When  I  was  in  Chicago  the  last  time,  I  saw  a  young  man 
in  the  school  who  had  been  toiling  for  months  and  years 
without  having  many  results,  as  far  as  conversions  were 
concerned.  Last  spring  he  took  his  boys  out  into  the 
country,  as  was  oftentimes  his  custom,  for  a  week  or  two. 
There  were  about  fifty,  and  only  five   or  ten  of  them   that 


l6o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

were  Christians.  When  I  was  there  last  spring  he  came 
right  into  our  meetings,  was  one  of  the  ushers,  and  every 
once  in  awhile  there  would  be  a  request  for  prayer  for  that 
class.  After  awhile  their  hearts  began  to  be  moved,  and 
out  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  in  that  class,  which  had 
grown  to  that  number,  over  one  hundred  had  been  con- 
verted and  were  working  for  the  Saviour.  *'  We  shall  reap 
if  we  faint  not."  There  was  a  teacher,  being  blessed  be-- 
cause  he  held  on,while  there  were  others  in  that  school  who 
had  got  discouraged  and  given  up  classes.  If  we  will  only 
just  have  this  for  our  motto,  that  we  are  not  to  faint,  but 
hold  on  ;  and  if  we  don't  see  any  fruit  to-day,  or  next  week, 
or  next  month,  not  to  get  discouraged,  but  hold  on  to  God's 
promises,  and  believe  we  can  reach  the  hardest  heart  in 
Boston.  I  remember  when  I  first  began  to  work  for  the 
Lord,  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  ago,  there  was  a  Boston 
business  man  who  was  converted  there  and  stayed  three 
months,  and  when  leaving  he  said  to  me  that  there  was  a 
man  living  on  such  a  street  in  whom  he  was  very  much  in- 
terested, and  whose  boy  was  in  the  High  School,  and  he 
had  said  that  he  had  two  brothers  and  a  little  sister  who 
didn't  go  anywhere  to  Sabbath  School,  because  their  pa- 
rents would  not  let  them.  This  gentleman  said  :  "  I  wish 
you  would  go  round  and  see  them."  Well,  I  went  and  I 
found  that  the  parents  lived  in  a  drinking  saloon,  and  that 
the  father  kept  the  bar.  I  stepped  up  to  him  and  told  him 
what  I  wanted,  and  he  said  he  would  rather  have  his 
sons  become  drunkards  and  his  daughter  a  harlot,  than 
have  them  go  to  our  schools.  I  thought  that  it  looked 
pretty  dark  and  that  he  was  pretty  bitter  to  me,  but  I  went 
a  second  time  thinking  I  mio:ht  catch  him  in  a  better  hu- 
mor.  He  ordered  me  out  again.  I  went  a  third  time  and 
found  him  in  a  better  humor.  He  said  :  "  You  are  talking 
too  much  about  the  Bible.  Well,  I  tell  you  what  I  will 
do ;    if  you  will  teach  them  something  reasonable,   like 


PERSEVERANCE.  i6i 

"  Paine's  A^e  of  Reason,"  they  may  go.  Then  I  talk- 
ed further  to  him  and  finally  he  said  :  "  If  you  will 
read  Paine's  book,  I  will  read  the  New  Testament. 
"  Well,  to  get  hold  of  him  I  promised,  and  he  got  the 
best  of  the  bargain.  We  exchanged  books  and  that  gave 
me  a  chance  to  call  again  and  talk  with  that  family.  One 
day  he  said  :  "  Young  man,  you  have  talked  so  much  about 
church,  now  you  can  have  a  church  down  here."  "  What 
do  you  mean  ?  "  "  Why,  I  will  invite  some  friends,  and  you 
can  come  down  here  and  preach  to  them ;  not  that  I  believe 
a  word  you  say,  but  I  do  it  to  see  if  it  will  do  us  chaps  any 
good."  "Very  well,"  I  said  ;  "now  let  us  have  it  distinctly 
understood  that  we  are  to  have  a  certain  definite  time." 
He  told  me  to  come  to-morrow  at  ii  o'clock,  saying,  "  I 
want  you  to  understand  that  you  are  not  going  to  do  all 
the  preaching."  "  How  is  that  ?  "  "I  shall  want  to  talk 
some  and  also  my  friends."  I  said,  "  Supposing  we  have 
it  understood  that  you  are  to  have  forty  minutes  and  I  fif- 
teen :  is  that  fair  t  "  Well,  he  thought  it  was/^/r.  He  was 
to  have  the  first  forty  and  I  the  last  fifteen  minutes.  I 
went  down,  and  behold  the  saloon-keeper  wasn't  there.  I 
thought  perhaps  he  had  backed  out,  but  I  found  that  the 
reason  was  that  he  had  found  that  his  saloon  was  not  large 
enough  to  hold  all  his  friends,  and  he  had  gone  to  a  neigh- 
bor's, whither  I  went  and  found  two  rooms  filled.  There 
were  atheists,  infidels,  and  scoffers  there.  I  had  taken  a 
little  boy  with  me,  thinking  he  might  aid  me.  The  moment 
I  got  in  they  plied  me  with  all  sorts  of  questions,  but  I  said 
I  hadn't  come  to  hold  any  discussion,  that  they  had  been 
discussing  for  years  and  reached  no  conclusion.  They 
took  up  the  forty-five  minutes  of  time  talking,  and  the  re- 
sult was  there  were  no  two  who  could  agree.  Then  came 
my  turn.  I  said :  "  We  alwaj^s  open  our  meetings 
v/ith  prayer ;  let  us  pray."  I  prayed  and  thought  perhaps 
some  one  else  would  pray  before  I  got  through.     After  I 


1 62  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

finished,  that  little  boy  prayed.  I  wish  you  could  have 
heard  him.  He  prayed  to  God  to  have  mercy  upon  those 
men  who  were  talking  so  against  his  beloved  Son.  His  voice 
sounded  more  like  an  angel's  than  a  human  voice.  After 
we  got  up,  I  was  going  to  speak,  but  there  was  not  a  dry 
eye  in  the  assembly.  One  after  another  went  out,  and  the 
old  man  I  had  been  after  for  months,  and  sometimes  it  had 
looked  pretty  dark,  came  and  putting  his  hands  on  my 
shoulder  with  tears  streaming  down  his  face,  said  ;  "  Mr. 
Moody,  you  can  have  my  children  go  to  your  Sunday  School." 
The  next  Sunday  they  came,  and  after  a  few  months  the 
oldest  boy,  a  promising  young  man  then  in  the  High  School, 
came  upon  the  platform,  and  with  his  chin  quivering  and 
the  tears  in  his  eyes,  said :  "  I  wish  to  ask  these  people  to 
pray  for  me  ;  I  want  to  become  a  Christian."  God  heard 
and  answered  our  prayers  for  him.  In  all  my  acquaint- 
ances I  don't  know  of  a  man  whom  it  seemed  more  hope- 
less to  reach.  I  believe  if  we  lay  ourselves  out  for  the  work 
there  is  not  a  man  in  Boston  but  can  be  reached  and  saved. 
I  don't  care  who  he  is,  if  we  go  in  the  name  of  our  Master, 
and  persevere  until  we  succeed.  It  will  not  be  long  before 
Christ  will  bless  us,  no  matter  how  hard  their  heart  is.  "  We 
shall  reap  if  we  faint  not."  I  didn't  have  a  warmer  friend 
in  Chicago  ;  he  was  true  to  me.  Many  a  man  now  uncon- 
verted in  this  city,  if  we  are  true  and  taithful,  and  go  to 
him  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  can  be  reached.  I  never 
speak  about  conversion  but  what  infidels  talk,  and  say  that 
there  have  been  no  infidels  converted  ;  but  there  has,  and 
we  want  to  keep  laboring  to  bring  them  to  Christ.  Infidel- 
ity don't  satisfy  them.-  I  never  found  an  infidel  satisfied  j 
they  want  Christ  to  satisfy  them.  Let  us  hold  on  to  this 
text,  "  We  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not."  When  I  was  in  Lon- 
don I  got  acquainted  with  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 
I  ever  met.  He  was  a  young  man  brought  up  in  the  best 
society,  as  the  world  called  it.     His  father  was  one  of  ths 


PERSEVERANCE.  163 

knights  and  moved  in  what  the  world  calls  the  upper  circle. 
This  young  man  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Royal  fam- 
ily, but  when  he  was  converted  he  went  down  into  the  Seven 
Dials,  a  locality  the  same  as  the  North  end  of  Boston, 
where  there  were  dark  alleys  and  the  lowest  dens  of  infajiiy. 
He  would  go  out  on  those  dark  narrow  streets  until  midnight, 
and  oftentimes  stay  until  2  and  3  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
There  he  met  ragged  boys,  without  any  homes,  lying  around 
on  boxes,  barrels  and  stairways,  and  he  would  gather  them 
together,  give  them  supper,  good  shelter  and  a  bed,  and 
stay  there  and  sleep  with  them.  He  left  his  beautiful 
mansion,  and  seven  nights  in  a  week  that  young  man 
went  down  to  what  I  might  call  the  very  borders  of 
hell,  for  it  seemed  to  me  the  darkest  sight  I  ever  saw.  He 
went  not  only  one  or  two  weeks,  but  for  eight  or  nine  years, 
spending  every  night  among  the  most  abandoned  people, 
tryi.ng  to  bring  them  up  out  of  their  degradation.  In  1872  he 
had  eighty-five  boys  in  Canada,  all  of  whom  have  been  con- 
verted, corresponded  with  them,  and  found  they  were  all 
doing  w^ell.  When  I  was  there  the  last  time,  it  was  my 
privilege  to  stop  at  his  house.  He  has  since  married,  and 
his  wife  tells  me  that  he  gives  five  nights  out  of  the  week  to 
that  work  at  the  Seven  Dials.  He  has  put  up  a  building 
costing  in  the  neighborhood  of  $50,000  to  $75,000.  Not 
only  has  he  spent  his  money,  but  his  time.  A  good  many 
people  are  willing  to  help  the  Lord  in  a  patronizing  way,  by 
giving  a  hundred  dollars  or  so  to  the  church,  and  let  others 
do  the  work,  but  this  man  was  willing  to  go  right  down 
among  them,  and  get  hold  of  them,  and  I  don't  know  a  man 
so  blessed  as  he.  I  speak  of  this  to  encourage  some  one 
else  in  this  audience  to  go  and  do  likewise.  You  may  not 
be  rich,  but  thank  God  it  don't  need  money  to  work  for  God 
if  our  hearts  are  full  of  love  for  Him.  He  has  got  plenty 
of  work  for  all.  He  can  use  all  kinds  of  talent,  great  and 
small,  those  of  great  ability  and  those  of  little,  if  we  are 


164  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

willing  just  to  go  to  work.  Now,  I  know  of  a  young  lady 
converted  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  first  thing  she  inquired 
was,  "What  can  I  do  ?  "  I  said,  "  I  don't  know  ;  I  don't 
think  it  is  right  for  me  to  direct  you.  Do  what  God 
calls  you  to  do."  I  said  I  was  two  years  trying  to 
find  what  my  work  was  before  I  succeeded.  When  I  com- 
menced to  speak  in  meetings  the  grown  people  would  hear 
me.  I  could  notice  them  squirm  their  shoulders  when  I 
got  up,  But  at  last  I  went  out  one  Sunday  and  got  hold 
of  eighteen  ragged  boys.  That  was  about  the  happiest 
Sunday  I  ever  experienced.  If  I  couldn't  teach  others  I 
could  take  them  where  there  were  those  who  could.  You 
can  do  the  same.  It  wasn't  three  months  before  that 
young  lady  had  twenty-six  off  the  street,  and  trying  to 
teach  them  the  way  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  If  she  had  not 
persevered  she  would  have  failed,  but,  thank  God  !  she  held 
on  and  achieved  great  results.  And  so  let  these  young 
converts  find  some  work  ;  go  out  into  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord  and  persevere.  In  the  15th  chapter  of  the  Gospe 
of  John,  the  4th  and  5th  verses,  we  are  told  about  the 
work: 

"Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch  cannot 
bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more 
can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  me.  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the 
branches:  He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit :  for  without  me  ye  can  do 
nothing." 

We  find  that  there  are  some  Christians  who  are  fruitful, 
others  that  have  to  be  pruned,  and  that  makes  them  more 
fruitful ;  but  those  that  abide  in  Christ  bring  forth  much 
fruit.  There  are  those  three  kinds  of  Christians :  those 
that  bear  fruit,  others  that  do  not  bear  so  much  without 
pruning,  and  this  third  class,  the  best  of  all,  that  bear 
much  fruit,  because  they  abide  in  the  Lord.  That  last 
class  are  not  going  into  the  world  after  comfort  but  abide 


PERSE  VERANCE. 


i6S 


in  Christ  and  get  strength  and  power  to  serve  Hun.  If 
we  want  to  be  faithful  and  bring  forth  one  liundred-fold 
we  should  abide  in  Him.  You  know  we  are  told  in  the 
Bible  that  some  brought  forth  thirty-fold,  some  sixty  and 
some  one  hundred.  Let  us  aim  to  be  fioiit-bearing  Chris- 
tians that  shall  bring  forth  one  hundred  fold.  It  is  blessed 
to  bring  forth  thirty  and  sixty-fold,  but  like  the  boy  who 
wants  to  stand  number  one  in  his  class  at  school,  let  us 
try  to  bring  forth  one  hundred-fold.  God  can  make  us 
successful  if  we  are  willing  to  be  doers  of  the  word  as  well 
as  hearers.  A  man  came  into  the  inquiry-room  and  found 
Christ,  and  I  felt  curious  and  asked  him  what  it  was  that 
first  impressed  him.  He  said  some  lady  offered  him  a 
card  at  one  of  the  meetings,  which  he  took  from  his  pocket- 
book  and  showed  me.  It  was  an  announcement  of  the 
"  Gospel  Meetings  of  Moody  and  Sankey,"  etc.,  and  on 
the  back  was  a  verse  reading,  "  A  certain  man  had  two 
sons,"  etc.  And  he  said  when  he  read  that  the  thought 
came  to  him  that  he  was  that  son  that  had  wandei-ed  away. 
I  knew  those  cards  had  been  printed,  and  on  inquiry  as  to 
who  did  it  I  learned  that  a  certain  young  man  had  printed 
15,000  of  them  at  his  own  expense.  I  asked  this  gentle- 
man if  he  would  let  me  have  that  one.  He  replied  he 
would  like  to  accommodate  me,  but  said  he  valued  it  too 
precious  to  do  so,  and  he  put  it  back  in  his  pocket.  I 
found  out  the  printer  and  got  two  or  three.  I  wish  we 
had  ten  thousand  such  workers  just  trying  to  find  some 
work  to  do  for  the  Master.  There  is  the  seed  sown  and 
already  sprung  up  and  bearing  fruit  to  life  eternal.  I 
want  to  stir  up  some  of  you  to-day  if  I  can  to  go  to  work 
in  the  vineyard.  As  I  have  said,  I  never  had  better  people 
to  listen.  It  is  most  remajkable  to  see  so  many  of  you 
come  out  on  such  a  stormy  morning  as  this.  I  think  this 
is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  assemblies  I  ever  had 
upon    such  a  morning.     You    are   good   for  hearing  the 


1 66  ^^^  '-^^^  PEOPLE. 

Word ;  I  wish  that  you  would  all  be  doers  of  it.     In  the 
ist  of  James,  beginning  with  the  22d  verse,  it  says  : 

"  But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only, 
deceiving  your  own  selves. 

"  For  if  any  be  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer, 
he  is  like  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  glass  : 

"  For  he  beholdeth  himself,  and  goeth  his  way,  and 
straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

"  But  whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty,  and 
continueth  therein,  he  being  not  a  forgetful  hearer,  but 
a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  his  deed. 

"  If  any  man  among  you  seem  to  be  religious,  and 
bridlo<^h  not  his  tongue,  but  deceiveth  his  own  heart,  this 
man's  religion  is  vain. 

"  Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God  and  the 
Father  is  this.  To  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their 
affliction  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world." 

Now  if  we  arc  going  to  have  pure  religion  we  have  got  to 
be  something  besides  hearers  of  the  Word  ;  we  have  got 
to  be  doers  of  it.  And  if  I  can  only  say  something  this 
morning  to  stir  up  these  thousands  of  Christians  to  be 
doers  of  the  word,  don't  you  see  how  the  influence  of  this 
meeting  would  spread  all  through  Boston,  and  how  many 
hundreds  would  feel  its  influence  before  long,  and  how 
many  would  be  won  to  Christ.  Instead  of  having  an  in- 
quiry-meeting in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gordon's  church  yonder, 
there  would  be  inquiry-meetings  in  every  house  and 
wherever  a  Christian  came  in  contact  with  the  unconverted. 
I  don't  know  of  anything  that  impressed  me  so  in  England 
as  to  see  the  Christians  with  their  Bibles  in  the  meetings 
looking  at  them  ro  see  if  what  was  said  was  according  to 
the  Word  of  God.  Then  after  the  meeting,  instead  of 
grabbing  their  hats  and  trying  to  get  out  before  the  bene- 
diction was  pronounced,  as  you  do  here  sometimes,  they 
were  already  at  work  for  God  and  trying  to  find  some  one 
to  talk  to  about  it  instead  of  rushing  out.  We  tried  to 
drive  the  nail  and  they  endeavored  to  clinch  it.     Suppos- 


PERSE  VERA  XCE.  1 6  7 

ing  all  the  Christians  here  this  morning  were  watching  for 
souls  and  talked  to  some  one  near  them,  what  an  influence 
they  would  have.  You  can  generally  tell  who  are  Chris- 
tians by  their  eyes  and  manners — their  faces  shine,  or  if 
there  is  a  Christian  in  doubting  castle,  have  your  Bible 
and  be  ready  to  give  them  God's  promises,  and  see  how 
blessed  this  week  would  be  and  see  how  many  you  could 
lead  to  Christ.  If  all  the  Christians  of  Boston  would  unite 
in  the  work,  by  the  time  we  leave  this  city  there  would  be 
a  great  army  at  work  for  Christ.  I  don't  know  why  we 
shouldn't  have  thousands  of  these  workers.  What  a  blessed 
and  glorious  privilege  to  lead  a  soul  out  of  the  darkness 
into  the  light.  If  I  had  time  there  are  other  passages  that 
I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  about  being  workers 
in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  but  I  am  not  able  now. 


CONVENTION  TALKS. 

HOW   CAN    NON-CHURCH-GOERS    BE    REACHED  ? 


I  WOULD  like  to  say  one  word  before  we  close  this 
question.  I  don't  believe  there  is  a  minister  in  this  con- 
gregation but  would  have  a  full  house  if  he  would  just 
work  for  it.  A  few  years  ago,  before  I  thought  I  could 
preach,  we  built  a  hall  in  Chicago  for  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  our  plan  was  to  get  the  different 
ministers  to  go  there  every  Sunday  night  and  preach,  but 
we  failed  in  that ;  we  couldn't  get  many  to  come,  and  the 
ministers  didn't  like  to  go  there  to  preach,  and  so  one 
night  they  came  to  me  and  wanted  me  to  go  down  there 
and  preach.  It  was  pretty  hard  to  preach  to  empty  chairs. 
But  I  got  a  few  interested  in  the  meeting  and  then  we  got 
out  some  hand-bills  that  cost  about  sixty  cents  a  thousand, 
and  then  we  took  some  of  the  young  men  and  got  them  to 
come  together  every  night  in  the  hall,  and  we  gave  them 
some  tea  and  they  prayed  together ;  and  they  took  these 
handbills  and  went  out  on  the  street,  and  every  man  had  a 
district,  and  they  visited  every  saloon  and  billiard  hall  and 
bowling  alley,  and  there  was  not  a  man  who  came  within  a 
mile  of  the  building  but  got  from  one  to  half  a  dozen  of 
these  invitations  to  come  to  that  meeting.  And  when  a 
man  was  converted  we  yoked  him  up  with  another,  two 
and  two,  and  sent  them  out  to  bring  others,  and  that  is  the 
way  we  did  it,  and  we  have  always  had  an  audience  ever 
since.  Now  if  people  won't  come  to  our  churches,  let  us 
go  for  them  in  that  \vay  and  keep  the  church  awake.  If  a 
man  goes  out  on  the  street  trying  to  get  people  to  come 
into  the  church  and  he  gets  another  man  to  come  in,  he 

i68 


CONVENTION  TALKS.  i6g 

will  not  go  to  sleep.  He  will  try  to  have  that  man  inter- 
ested in  the  exercises ;  and  if  he  does  not  like  the  sermon, 
he  will  go  to  the  minister  afterwards  and  say,  "  You  must 
make  that  sermon  plainer  ;  that  man  that  I  brought  didn't 
understand  it."  There  was  a  man  we  converted  in  Chicago 
who  couldn't  speak  a  word  of  English,  and  we  had  to 
make  use  of  an  interpreter,  and  what  to  do  with  that  man 
after  he  became  a  Christian  I  didn't  know.  He  wanted  to 
do  something  for  the  Lord,  and,  finally,  I  stationed  him  at 
the  corner  of  Clark  and  Madison  streets  to  give  out  these 
handbills.  And  when  the  Lord  converted  him  the  man 
was  so  happy!  His  face  was  just  lit  up,  and  to  every  man 
that  went  by — and  there  were  some  pretty  hard  cases — ^he 
just  gave  a  handbill.  And  some  thanked  him  and  some 
swore  at  him,  but  he  kept  smiling  all  the  time.  He  couldn't 
tell  the  difference  between  thanks  and  curses.  And 
for  two  months  he  stood  there,  without  a  hat  part  of  the 
time,  and  every  night  he  was  there  ;  when  it  got  to  be 
dark  in  the  short  days  he  would  have  a  transparency  all 
lighted  up  right  there  on  the  corner  ;  and  there  he  would 
stand,  and  he  stood  there  months  and  months,  and  the 
Lord  gave  him  a  good  many  souls.  You  can  say  that  may 
be  done  in  the  cities,  but  what  can  we  do  in  the  country 
towns  t  Well,  we  can  try  something  else  in  the  country 
tov/ns.  I  remember  in  one  country  town  where  the  people 
did  not  attend  the  meetings,  they  went  out  into  the  moun- 
tains and  fields  and  had  meetings  there,  and  the  church 
soon  became  four  or  five  times  larger  than  it  was.  That 
gave  them  an  interest.  If  people  will  not  come  to  the 
churches,  why  not  send  others  out  after  them,  and  why  not 
have  meetings  outside  ?  That  will  soon  give  them  an  in 
terest  so  that  they  will  come  to  the  house  of  God.  Another 
way  is  to  have  prayer-meetings  in  the  homes.  A  good 
many  mothers  cannot  come  out  to  church  ;  but  we  can  go 
down  to  their  homes,  and  have  four  or  five  families  come 


170 


TO  ALL  I^EOPLE. 


together,  and  pray  with  them  and  get  them  interested. 
Many  a  mother  cannot  go  to  the  house  of  God  for  years, 
they  have  no  servants  to  take  care  of  their  children,  and 
they  have  to  stay  at  home  and  look  after  their  famiHes, 
and  the  only  way  to  reach  them  is  to  have  cottage  prayer- 
meetings.  There  must  be  a  personal  interest  taken  in 
them.  These  young  converts  coming  to  Christ  want  some- 
thing to  do.  I  hope  the  Church  will  lay  out  something 
for  them  to  do.  Let  them  have  the  privilege,  the  glorious 
luxury  of  carrying  the  water  of  life  to  them  that  are  perish- 
ing. Another  thing — have  good  singing.  In  some  of 
these  churches  they  have  been  singing  the  same  old  hymns 
for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  instead  of  the  organ  being 
up  in  the  gallery  with  two  or  three  singers  about  it  doing 
all  the  singing,  bring  the  organ  right  down  among  the 
people  and  let  them  gather  right  round  it  and  sing  them- 
selves. And  if  some  of  the  people  don't  know  how  to  sing, 
have  a  meeting  once  a  week,  where  the  people  can  go  and 
learn.  If  the  church  will  only  set  the  young  converts  to 
work,  why  we  can  reach  a  great  many  homes  ;  but  if  we 
just  take  them  into  the  church  and  leave  them  there,  and 
not  teach  them  how  to  work,  the  homes  are  never  going  to 
be  reached.  Some  young  converts  during  the  past  weeks 
have  been  to  work,  and  they  have  already  brought,  some 
eight,  some  ten,  and  some  twelve  of  their  friends  to  Christ. 
If  we  keep  on  in  that  way  how  long  will  it  be  before  we 
have  hundreds  and  thousands  of  converts  in  this  city  ?  '. 
The  church  makes  a  woful  mistake  in  not  setting  these 
young  converts  to  work.  Those  men  who  have  been 
drunkards,  let  them  just  set  out  and  work  among  their  old 
friends.  No  man  can  reach  a  drunkard  better  than  one 
who  has  been  a  drunkard  himself.  I  don't  know  any  work 
so  blessed  in  Chicago  as  the  going  out  into  the  billiard 
saloons  and  preaching  the  gospel  there.  If  they  will  not 
come  to  church,  go  down  where  they  are,  in  the  name  of 


CONVENTION  TALKS.  171 

our  God,  and  you  will  reach  them.  If  you  say,  "Oh,  they 
will  put  you  out,'"  I  say,  "  No,  I  have  never  been  turned 
out  of  a  saloon  in  my  life."  Go  down  in  a  saloon  where 
there  are  thirty  or  forty  men  playing,  and  ask  them  if  they 
don't  want  a  little  singing.  They  say,  "  Yes,  we  don't 
mind  your  singing."  "  Well,  what  will  3'ou  have  ?  "  And 
perhaps  they  ask  you  to  sing  a  comic  song.  "  But  we 
don't  know  any.  We  don't  know  how  to  sing  comic  songs. 
Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  us  sing  the  '  Star  Spangled 
Banner,'  or  '  My  Country,  'tis  of  Thee.' "  And  so  you 
sing  "  My  Country,  'tis  of  Thee,"  and  they  stop  playing 
cards.  "  Now  boys,  wouldn't  you  like  to  have  us  sing  a 
hymn  our  mothers  taught  us  when  we  were  boys .''  "  And 
then  you  can  sing 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 

Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins  ; 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood 

Lose  all  their  guilty  stains." 

Or  give  out  "  Rock  of  Ages,  Cleft  for  Me,"  and  it  won't 
be  long  before  the  hats  will  be  coming  off,  and  they  will 
remember  how  their  mothers  sung  that  to  them  once  when 
they  were  in  bed,  and  the  tears  will  begin  to  run  down 
their  cheeks,  and  it  won't  be  long  before  they  will  want 
you  to  read  a  few  verses  out  of  the  Bible,  and  then  they 
will  ask  you  to  pray  with  them,  and  you  will  be  having  a 
prayer-meeting  there  before  you  know  it.  We  took  sixteen 
out  of  a  saloon  in  that  way  one  night,  and  nine  of  them 
went  into  the  inquiry-room  ;  what  we  need  in  Boston  is  to 
go  out  and  get  these  men.  If  men  will  not  come  out  to 
hear  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  let  us  take 
and  carry  it  into  these  attic  homes  and  saloons.  Thank 
God  !  Boston  is  going  to  be  visited.  Let  every  man,  woman 
and  child  help  us  a  little  and  we  pray  that  as  they  go  into 
these  attics  and  these  households,  the  Holy  Spirit  may 
help  them  to  present  Christ  in  all  His  glory  and  loveliness. 


iy2  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Let  all  take  hold  and  help  ;  and  then  religion  will  be  like 
a  red-hot  ball  rolling  over  the  earth  and  nothing  can  stand 
airainst  it.  The  churches  can  be  crowded  full  and  the 
masses  reached  if  we  go  about  it  in  the  Spirit  of  the  Master. 
We  had  a  gathering  similar  to  this  for  the  Lord's  work 
while  I  was  in  Chicago ;  and  a  minister  came  down  there 
from  Wisconsin  who  had  not  been  blessed  in  the  ministry 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  church  was  cold  and  he  had 
not  the  power  to  lift  it.  He  was  very  much  discouraged 
and  disheartened,  and  he  thought  some  of  giving  up  his 
church.  At  the  first  noon  prayer-meeting,  the  moment  the 
meeting  was  opened,  he  got  up  and  said,  "  I  want  you  to 
pray  for  my  church."  He  touched  all  our  hearts  because 
we  saw  the  man  was  really  burdened,  and  we  prayed  for 
him — an  earnest  prayer  went  up  for  him  and  his  church. 
The  next  meeting  for  prayer  he  was  up  again,  and  pre- 
sented himself  and  his  church  ;  and  the  next  meeting  he 
was  there,  and  did  the  same,  and  still  the  blessing  did  not 
come,  as  he  thought,  and  he  stayed  in  Chicago  after  the 
convention  week,  and  got  up  in  the  meetings  and  presented 
himself  for  prayers.  At  last  a  letter  came  down  there  to 
him,  and  it  said  that  an  interest  had  already  broken  out  in 
the  church,  and  so  he  started  and  went  back.  And  when 
I  left  Chicago,  the  last  night  I  was  there,  he  came  down 
fiom  his  Wisconsin  parish  on  jDurpose  to  tell  me  what 
great  things  the  Lord  had  done  for  him.  Now  let  us  pray, 
if  any  man  has  come  up  to  this  convention,  the  same  as 
this  man  from  Wisconsin,  with  his  heart  burdened  for 
himself  and  church,  let  him  just  present  himself  to  us  for 
prayer,  and  we  will  ask  God's  blessing  and  pray  for  him. 
Before  I  sit  down  I  want  to  ask  all  Christians  here  to  pray 
for  the  work  in  Boston,  to  pray  that  this  work  may  deepen. 
Now  let  us  pour  out  our  hearts  in  prayer.  Let  us  pray  for 
one  another. 


HOW  CAN  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED? 

QUESTIONS   ANSWERED    BY   MR.    MOODY. 


Q.  Does  not  the  continued  seeking  after  the  Holy 
Spirit  blunt  the  sense  of  what  we  have  ? 

A.  If  a  man  is  full  he  can  hold  no  more.  Praying  fo^" 
power  differs  from  praying  for  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit 
There  is  little  danger  that  Christians  will  become  so  full  of 
the  Spirit  that  they  need  no  power. 

Q.  Why  don't  you  teach  baptism  ? 

A.  That  is  not  my  business.  Some  men  would  have 
this  work  broken  up  in  six  weeks  or  six  days  if  they  had 
their  way.  Suppose  I  should  teach  baptism  by  sprinkling, 
away  would  go  Mr.  Penticost.  (Mr.  Penticost — No  I 
wouldn't.)  If  I  taught  baptism  by  immersion,  away  would 
go  Dr.  Webb.  Let  us  see  what  we  can  meet  on.  Let 
ministers  indoctrinate  these  converts  as  they  please. 
Evangelists  are  just  to  proclaim  the  gospel ;  they  just  want 
to  keep  out  those  controverted  questions.  When  June 
comes  it  will  be  four  years  since  Mr.  Sankey  and  I  have 
been  together  in  meetings,  and  we  have  yet  to  hear  the  first 
word  of  discord.  I  can  have  my  views  of  baptism,  and  if 
I  had  a  church  I  would  teach  the  people  what  I  believe, 
buf:  in  these  meetings  it  would  be  unfair  to  do  it. 

Q.  How  can  the  churches  of  New  England  be  re- 
vived ? 

A.  If  I  were  in  a  town  of  four  or  five  churches  I  would 
see  the  ministers  and  see  if  they  would  agree,  if  two  of 
them  agreed  I  would  say,  "  Why  can't  we  work  together  ?  *' 


174 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


Then  we  would  meet  and  pray.  Suppose  there  were  no 
more  than  twelve  persons  come  together  for  prayer,  if  they 
hold  on  faithfully  there  will  be  a  revival.  If  you  can  get 
three  churches  to  join  all  the  better.  Our  work  is  always 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  churches  interested  in  the 
movement.  If  the  whole  church  is  not  aroused  it  is  no  sign 
that  we  should  not  be  quickened  and  aroused  personally. 
If  there  is  one  man  aroused  there  will  be  anxious  souls 
around  that  man.  We  have  to  act  in  this  world  as  if  there 
were  not  another  man  or  woman  in  it.  If  we  are  cold  our- 
selves we  are  apt  to  think  every  one  else  is  cold.  What 
we  want  is  to  get  our  own  hearts  on  fire,  and  there  will  be 
a  revival.  I  hope  every  delegate  will  go  back  with  his 
heart  burdened  for  the  town  or  village  in  which  he  lives. 
There  may  be  obstacles,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  can  bring 
unity  where  there  is  faith.  Let  all  our  expectations  be 
from  God  and  then  we  will  not  be  disappointed.  May  God 
revive  every  church  in  New  England  —  let  that  be  our 
prayer. 

Q.  Would  you  hurry  peo^Dle  into  the  church  as  soon  as 
they  are  converted  ? 

A.  No,  I  wouldn't.  I  used  to  think  that  as  soon  as  a 
man  is  converted  he  should  join  the  church,  but  I  have 
grown  more  conservative.  Mr.  Moody  here  told  his  expe- 
rience when  a  number  of  years  ago  he  was  anxious  to  join 
Mount  Vernon  Church.  The  story  is  well  known.  He 
thought  that  people  should  know  what  they  were  about. 
Some  people  get  into  the  church  very  easy  and  it's  hard  to 
get  them  out.     Sometimes  they  break  it  up. 

Q.  What  is  the  best  way  to  conduct  evangelical  meet- 


ings? 


A.  I  would  have  them  short,  not  more  than  an  hour  in 
length,  with  plenty  of  singing.  Then  I'd  have  a  second 
meeting  for  prayer,  and  an  inquiry  meeting. 

Q.  Isn't  it  better  to  get  all  the  inquirers  together.? 


HOW  CAN  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED? 


175 


A.  I  ^ike  to  get  the  inquirers  off  alone  and  talk  with 
them  from  the  word  of  God,  pray  with  them,  try  to  remove 
their  doubts  and  calm  their  fears.  Then  send  them  home 
to  think  quietly  over  the  matter  in  their  minds.  The  duty 
of  Christians  is  to  work  among  those  around  them  at  relig- 
ious meetings.  It  is  a  good  deal  better  to  begin  now, 
make  a  beginning,  and  then  you  can  work  better  as  you  get 
into  it.  You  can't  expect  a  boy  to  learn  the  lumber  tuade 
without  spoiling  some  lumber.  It  generally  takes  about  a 
month  to  get  Christians  really  to  work,  and  to  understand 
how  to  deal  with  inquirers,  and  then  the  work  spreads  and 
goes  forward.  If  while  Dr.  Taylor  was  preaching  here  last 
night  there  were  a  thousand  Christians  m  the  audience 
watching  for  souls,  and,  when  the  meeting  was  over  if  they 
had  just  spoken  to  some  one  right  around  them,  we  would 
have  had  from  a  hundred  to  a  thousand  inquirers  in  this 
meeting  last  night.  It  is  a  good  thing  for  you  Christians 
to  bring  your  Bibles  with  you.  There  was  a  Christian  lady 
in  London  got  into  one  of  the  buses,  and  a  person  in  the 
bus  saw  her  get  in  and  saw  she  had  a  Bible  in  her  hand, 
and  so  she  got  up  from  the  seat  where  she  was  sitting 
—  she  was  sitting  on  the  other  side  of  the  bus  —  and  got  a 
seat  close  to  her,  sat  right  down  alongside  of  her  and  she 
says  to  the  lady,  "  Are  you  a  Christian  1  "  "  Yes,  I  am  !  " 
"  I  thought  you  were  because  you  had  a  Bible.  I  am  very 
anxious  about  my  soul.  Tell  me  what  I  must  do  to  be 
saved  ?  "  There  are  a  good  many  in  this  town  who  want 
to  be  stirred  up  ;  they  want  to  learn  the  ways  of  life,  and 
there  ought  to  be  a  good  many  Christians  ready  to  point 
these  souls  the  way  to  God. 

Q.   How  to  deal  with  infidels  in  the  inquiry-room? 

A.  Well,   pray  with    them.     Argument    don't   do    any 
good.     Down  on  your  knees  and  pray  with  them  and  con 
vert  them  to  God,     A  good  many  infidels  have  been  con- 
verted, but  not  by  argument. 


tyS  -^C>  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Q.  What  is  the  best  way  to  conduct  inquiry-meetings  ? 

A.  I  have  just  answered  that. 

Q.  Would  you  talk  with  inquirers  if  they  are  not  inter- 
ested ? 

A.  Well,  they  must  be  a  little  interested  f  they  are  in- 
quirers. I  suppose  the  inquirer  means  :  Would  you  talk 
with  persons  who  are  not  deeply  convicted  of  sin  ?  Well, 
the  13th  chapter  of  Romans  is  a  good  chapter  to  read 
to  such  persons,  where  it  says  :  "  There  are  none  righteous, 
no,  not  one."  You  must  be  convicted  of  sin  first,  before 
any  good  can  be  done.  Conviction  comes  first  and  then 
conversion.  There  is  no  use  crying  peace,  peace,  before  we 
know  we  are  really  at  war  with  God.  But  when  we  are 
convicted  of  sin  then  is  the  time  for  the  blessing  to  come. 

Q.  Would  you  tell  inquirers  they  are  saved  ? 

A.  No,  let  God  tell  them.  That  record  is  kept  on  high. 
I  think  it  is  very  wrong  to  tell  inquirers  they  are  saved. 
They  can  be  saved  by  putting  their  trust  in  the  Lord  God 
in  Heaven.  But  when  the  act  takes  place  God  must  re- 
veal to  them  in  His  own  way  whether  they  are  saved  or 
not. 

Q.  Is  it  best  to  give  them  a  tract  or  a  book,  after  you 
have  got  done  with  them  ? 

A.  Sometimes  a  book  in  the  hand  is  a  great  help.  But 
the  best  book  I  have  ever  seen  is  the  Bible.  Bring  them 
right  to  the  Word  of  God  and  let  them  put  their  trust  in 
that.     That  is  better  than  anything  else. 

Q.  Would  you  tell  them  to  go  home  and  pray  ? 

A.  No ;  I  wouldn't  tell  them  that.  They  might  die 
on  the  way  home.  But  pray  now.  Don't  put  it  off.  You 
don't  know  what  may  happen.  Bring  them  right  to  the 
Lord  now.  That  is  your  work.  If  you  send  them  home 
to  pray  it  may  be  difficult  to  do  anything  with  them  after- 
wards. They  may  lean  too  much  on  their  prayers,  and 
prayer  won't  save  them. 


HO  IV  CAN  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED?       jjy 

Q.  Would  you  have  inquiry-meetings  after  the  regular 
meeting  ? 

A.  It  seems  to  me,  after  I  had  preached  the  gospel  I 
would  be  sure  and  pull  the  net  in  to  see  if  I  had  caught 
anything.  A  good  many  preachers  never  look  to  see  if 
they  are  successful  in  their  ministry.  They  are  like  men 
out  fishing  who  keep  throwing  their  nets  into  the  water  and 
never  look  to  see  if  they  have  got  anything  in  them.  After 
you  have  preached  the  gospel  you  ought  to  look  for  the 
results.  There  is  simple  instruction  and  teaching,  and 
then  there  is  preaching  the  gospel ;  they  ought  not  to  be 
kept  separate.  When  you  proclaim  the  gospel  it  is  bring- 
ing men  to  Christ,  and  you  want  to  keep  them  there.  We 
M'ould  have  a  hundred-fold  more  in  the  work  for  God  if  we 
onl}'^  expected  more.  A  minister  wanted  me  to  preach  for 
him  once,  and  there  was  quite  a  good  audience  there, 
and  he  was  surprised  ;  he  didn't  think  anybody  would 
come.  Let  us  aim  at  great  and  immediate  results,  and  we 
will  get  them. 

Q.  Would  you  encourage  little  children  to  go  to  church  ? 
A.  Certainly  I  would.  It  is  better  to  let  them  com- 
mence as  soon  as  they  can.  Let  them  begin  so  young  that 
they  cannot  tell  when  they  begin.  Some  people  think  that 
little  children  disturb  the  congregation.  I  don't  see  why 
they  should  be  disturbed  by  a  baby  in  church  more  than 
at  home.  I  like  to  hear  them.  I  don't  see  why  a  whole  au- 
dience should  be  disturbed  by  a  little  child  crying.  Mothers 
who  don't  have  any  servants  to  take  care  of  their  children 
ought  to  be  encouraged  to  come  and  bring  their  children. 
I  think  we  should  have  them  here  a  gieat  deal  more  then. 
If  they  are  not  reached,  I  don't  know  what  will  become  of 
the  masses,  because  the  masses  of  the  people  are  not  able 
to  hire  servants.  When  a  mother  has  five  or  six  children, 
and  she  is  encouraged  to  bring  them  to  church,  the}^  get  in 
the  habit  of  coming  then,  and  that  is  a  good  thing. 


lyS  ^^<^  '^^^  PEOI-'LE. 

Q.  How  are  we  to  get  more  life  into  our  prayer-meet- 
ings ? 

A.  Get  more  into  yourselves  first.  If  there  is  no  life 
in  a  man  it  is  hard  work  for  him  to  put  any  into  others. 
Get  out  of  these  old  ruts  and  have  a  change.  In  some 
prayer-meetings  it  is  the  custom  of  having  Deacons  Jones 
or  White  pray,  and  then  the  minister  reads  some  great  long 
chapter,  and  before  he  gets  through  he  talks  all  the  spirit 
out  of  the  meeting  and  then  they  go  home.  It's  no  wonder 
young  people  don't  come  to  prayer-meetings.  Have  variety 
— new  hymns,  once  in  a  while.  Get  people  close  together, 
I  have  seen  many  a  meeting  lost  by  the  people  being  scat- 
tered. People  scatter  away  from  the  minister  as  if  they 
thought  they  would  catch  some  disease  near  him.  There 
is  no  power  at  all  in  such  meetings.  Have  a  live  meeting 
and  get  the  people  right  up  near  you.  If  they  don't  come, 
have  a  pulpit  on  wheels  and  roll  it  right  down  among 
them.  Don't  have  one  of  these  great  box  affairs  where  they 
can't  see  you.  If  you  can't  do  any  better  take  a  chair  and 
stand  upon  that.  And  then  j-ust  let  them  all  gather  around 
and  have  perfect  freedom  and  sympathy.  Our  meetings 
are  cold,  and  stiff,  and  formal ;  they  are  apt  to  drive  people 
from  Christ  instead  of  drawing  them  in.  Some  young 
people  say  if  they  become  Christians  they  will  have  to  at- 
tend the  prayer-meetings,  and  they  don't  want  to  go.  They 
must  be  made  interesting.  Then  have  the  place  of  the 
meeting  well  ventilated.  Sometimes  the  janitors  forget 
to  open  the  windows.  I  have  been  in  some  of  them  when 
it  seemed  as  though  there  was  the  same  air  there  that 
there  was  twent}'-  years  ago.  People  who  have  been 
working  out  in  the  open  air  all  day  come  in  there  and 
they  feel  just  like  going  to  sleep,  and  then  they  lay  it  on 
the  minister.  Have  the  room  ventilated,  and  warm,  and 
light,  and  cheerful.  Have  short  prayers.  If  any  one 
prays  five   minutes  just  go  up  to  him  after  the  meeting  is 


HOW  CA.V  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED '{        lyq 

over  and  say,  "  Brother  Jones,"  or  whatever  his  name  is, 
*'  I  wish  you  wouldn't  pray  so  long  to-morrow  night."  I 
say  live  minutes,  some  pray  fifteen  minutes ;  I  don't  know 
any  meeting  that  can  stand  that.  If  you  can't  pray  short, 
don't  pray  at  all.  The  men  who  make  long  prayers  are 
generally  the  ones  that  pray  least  at  home.  They  are  gen- 
erally prayerless  prayers,  and  they  take  the  spirit  right  out 
of  the  meeting.-  You  ought  to  make  the  prayer-meeting 
the  most  attractive  meeting  in  the  church  during  the  week. 
Q.  How  to  conduct  secondary  meetings  ? 
A.  I  think  I  have  answered  that. 

Q.  Is  it  a  good  thing  to  have  new  speakers  in  evangel- 
ical meetings  .'' 

A.  No  ;  it  don't  succeed.  We  tried  that  once  in  Chicago. 
We  had  a  hall  open  every  afternoon  for  thirty  days ;  and 
then  we  went  out  and  got  people  to  come  in.  And  we  got 
thirty  of  the  leading  ministers  in  Chicago  to  preach,  a 
diiTerent  one  every  night.  And  at  the  end  of  the  thirty 
days  I  think  one  man  was  converted.  And  it  has  always 
been  a  wonder  to  me  he  was  converted.  The  trouble  was 
they  didn't  stick  together.  They  got  used  to  one  man's 
way,  and  then  another  man  came  and  the  interest  was  divid- 
ed. If  we  had  had  anyone  man  of  the  thirty  preach  all  the 
time  I  think  the  result  would  have  been  different.  If  you 
have  four  or  five  ministers  in  the  town  let  one  man  preach 
for  two  weeks,  and  he  will  get  in  the  way  of  presenting  one 
line  of  truth  and  be  successful ;  and  then  secure  another, 
and  in  that  way  much  good  will  come. 

Q.  How  would  you  get  a  church  to  work  ? 

A.  Well,  first,  I  would  go  to  work  myself.  Some  are 
always  telling  others  to  goto  work,  and  they  don't  go  them- 
selves. Get  a  few  men  blest,  and  others  will  come  and 
want  to  go  to  work.  I  never  saw  a  working  Christian  yet 
but  what  he  was  a  rejoicing  one.  When  you  are  working 
you  are  .lot  troubled  with  doubts.     Christians  wonder  why 


i8o  ^'^  ALL  PEOPLE. 

they  have  so  many  deubts.  It  is  because  they  are  all  the 
time  occupied  with  themselves.  We  must  work  for  others, 
and  if  we  work  for  others  we  shall  ourselves  be  blest.  "  He 
that  watereth  shall  himself  be  watered."  I  once  heard  of 
a  man  who  had  his  leg  broken,  and  he  was  obliged  to  stay 
in  the  house,  and  some  one  brought  him  in  the  first  cluster  of 
grapes  from  his  vine,  and  he  told  his  wife,  I  can't  eat  that 
cluster.  I  am  going  to  send  it  to  a  neighbor  of  mine  who 
is  sick.  I  will  call  him  neighbor  Jones.  That's  a  good 
name.  So  he  sent  them  to  neighbor  Jones,  but  neighbor 
Jones  said,  I  can't  eat  these  grapes.  It  was  very  kind  of 
my  neighbor  to  send  them.  I  will  send  them  to  neighbor 
White,  as  he  is  sick.  So  the  grapes  were  sent  on  from  one 
to  another,  and  they  got  wonderfully  blessed  in  sending 
them  on  in  that  way.  And  the  last  man  they  were  sent 
to  said,  I  hear  that  Mr.  So-and-so  has  got  his  leo^  broken. 
Poor  fellow  ;  I  think  I'll  send  these  grapes  to  him.  And  so 
he  sent  them  back  to  the  one  who  sent  them  first.  So  he 
got  his  grapes  back  again  and  a  blessing  too. 

Q.  Do  you  think  it  best  to  get  children  to  sign  a  cove- 
nant that  they  will  not  lie,  swear,  drink,  etc.  ? 

A.  W^ell  I  did,  but  I  have  got  over  it.  I  don't  think 
much  of  covenants.  I  would  not  say  anything  against  sign- 
ing the  pledge,  but  I  think  the  only  hope  is  in  Christ,  They 
must  renounce  their  own  strength,  give  up  their  own  resolu- 
tions and  lean  on  Christ,  and  then  sign  the  pledge  and  it 
may  do  some  good.  It  is  a  good  deal  better  just  to  teach 
them  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  hope.  If  they  sign  the  pledge 
they  will  come  to  lean  on  the  pledge.  Take  Christ  as  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  Just  hold  to  that.  We  are  holding 
up  almost  every  substitute  except  Jesus  Christ.  We  must 
hold  Christ  up  to  them  the  same  as  Moses  in  the  wilder- 
ness presented  the  brazen  serpent,  and  it  healed  them. 
He  didn't  have  any  roots  or  herbs,  but  they  were  healed 
then.     Lean  on  Christ's  strength. 


HO IV  CAN-  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED?        i8i 

Q.  Do  you  think  it  best  to  advertise  religious  services  ? 

A.  Certainly  I  do.  Why  not  ?  I  don't  see  why  we  shouldn't 
learn  something  from  the  world.  They  advertise  very  ex- 
tensively. A  man  comes  into  town  from  the  country  or 
from  some  other  city,  and  he  don't  know  anything  about 
the  meetings,  and  if  he  sees  a  notice  of  them  he  may  at- 
tend them.  I  don't  see  why  the  walls  should  not  be  pla- 
carded also.  Many  a  man  has  been  blest  in  that  way. 
Some  people  are  sensitive  about  it,  I  know;  but  it  seems 
to  me  it  is  a  good  deal  better  to  advertise  and  have  a  full 
house  than  to  preach  to  empty  pews.  I  don't  see  why  not. 
Bills  are  stuck  up  everywhere  for  people  to  go  to  theatres 
and  places  of  amusement,  and  I  don't  see  why  we  shouldn't 
give  the  Gospel  a  chance.  If  people  don't  know  about  the 
meetings  why  not  advertise  them  ?  Now,  Mr.  Sankey,  just 
sing  them  something.  Mr.  Sankey  responded  by  singing 
"The  Half  Was  Never  Told."  The  doors  were  then 
opened  while  the  audience  sang  "  I  Need  Thee  Every 
Hour."  At  the  close  of  the  singing  Mr.  Moody  again 
opened  the  "  question  drawer,"  and  took  from  it  the  follow- 
ing questions,  which  he  proceeded  to  answer.  He  said  :  I 
have  received  a  great  many  questions  in  regard  to  the  mat- 
ter of  fairs,  theatricals,  etc.,  in  the  church.  I  don't  think 
I  have  time  to  go  into  it  this  morning,  except  to  lift  up  a 
solemn  protest  against  it.  We  can  draw  young  people  in 
tliat  way,  but  we  don't  draw  them  to  Christ  ;  and  after  we 
have  got  them  we  don't  know  what  to  do  with  them.  \\q 
don't  have  the  power  over  them  we  should  have.  There 
was  a  time  when  religious  men  used  to  go  into  the  world 
to  see  what  the  world  was  doing.  The  cry  was,  "  Keep  the 
Church  from  the  World,"  but  now  the  world  is  coming  into 
the  Church.  They  must  be  kept  separate.  The  world  has 
come  in  and  eaten  out  the  piety  from  the  churches,  and 
ley  have  not  the  power  they  once  had.  We  must  keep  up 
the  standard  and  draw  the   world  up  to  it  not  lower  it  to 


1 82  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

the  world's  level.  I  never  heard  of  any  one  who  had  any 
influence  in  that  way.  I  have  heard  of  wives  going  to  the 
theatre  with  their  husbands,  with  the  understanding  that 
their  husbands  would  go  to  church  with  them  the  next  Sab- 
bath. But  I  don't  know  of  a  Christian  woman  who  did  it 
but  she  lost  her  influence  over  her  husband.  Instead  of 
lifting  him  up,  he  brought  her  clown.  The  idea  is,  nowadays, 
that  a  person  cannot  be  a  Christian  without  growing  up  in 
the  world.  But  if  we  are  Christians  we  don't  care  for  it. 
That  is  the  way  God  deals  with  his  people  instead  of  say- 
ing you  shan't  do  this  or  that  he  takes  away  all  desire  for 
worldly  things.  He  gives  us  that  which  is  best  and  we 
don't  desire  other  things.  Ministers  make  a  mistake  in 
making  a  tirade  against  them,  instead  of  preaching  the 
Word  of  God  and  letting  these  things  come  to  us  of  them- 
selves. I  once  knew  a  man  who  preached  the  Word  of 
God,  and  he  said  he  could  see  no  harm  in  going  to  the 
theatre,  and  some  of  his  people  wanted  me  to  go  and  see 
him  and  convince  him  that  he  was  mistaken.  So  I  went 
and  talked  with  him.  He  had  always  been  used  to  that 
kind  of  amusement  and  saw  no  harm  in  it.  I  reasoned 
with  him  and  did  what  I  could,  but  I  couldn't  seem  to  in- 
fluence him,  and  when  I  left  him  I  said  to  myself,  If  that 
man  had  the  same  desire  to  go  to  the  theatre  it  was  a  sign 
he  was  not  truly  converted.  Soon  after  the  man  went  to 
to  the  theatre  again,  and  when  he  came  back  he  came  to 
me  and  said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  I  have  been  to  the  theatre  for 
the  last  time  ;  I  have  no  desire  to  go  there  again."  It  was 
the  same  place,  but  he  looked  at  it  differently  ;  he  got  into 
a  better  atmosphere.  So  it  would  be  with  a  great  many 
people  if,  instead  of  opening  a  tirade  against  these  places, 
we  just  gave  them  something  better.  What  we  want  is  a 
real  religious  life  in  the  church.  These  theatricals  in  con- 
nection with  churches  do  a  great  deal  of  harm.  This  rais* 
ing  money  to  pay  off  church  debts  in  that  way  is  an  abom- 


HOW  CAN  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED?.        183 

inable  thing.  I  think  there  is  a  great  deal  better  way  to 
raise  money  than  that. 

Q.  In  a  time  when  the  religious  interest  is  beginning  to 
increase  in  a  congregation,  is  there  any  clanger  of  preach- 
ing too  much  to  careless  churchmen  and  too  little  to  the 
unconverted  ? 

A.  I  should  go  for  the  careless  ones  first,  and  then  I 
would  attend  to  the  unconverted.  When  Spurgeon  went 
up  to  London  to  preach,  he  said  :  "  You  could  fire  a  can- 
non-ball right  through  the  church  and  not  hit  anyone." 
So  he  preached,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  right  to  the  elders. 
Finally  they  said  :  "  Don't  you  think  you  had  better  leave 
us  alone  and  preach  to  the  unconverted  ?  "  And  he  said  : 
"  I  must  preach  to  you  first,  and  get  you  right  with  God." 
And  when  he  got  them  stirred  up,  he  went  to  the  church 
members,  and  then  his  work  began  with  the  unconverted, 
and  it  has  been  going  on  ever  since.  You  must  get  the 
church  thoroughly  alive  first,  and  then  you  can  have  power 
over  the  unconverted. 

Q.  Is  the  conversion  of  souls  to  be  aimed  at  every  time 
we  preach  .'' 

A.  Why,  as  I  said  before,  there  is  simple  worship,  and 
there  is  teaching  and  instructing.  The  breaking  of  the 
Lord's  bread  at  the  communion  table,  for  instance,  is  a  dif- 
ferent thing  from  preaching  the  Gospel.  Then  feed  the 
flock  and  build  up  the  Church.  Some  people  think  they 
have  nothing  to  do,  if  people  join  the  church,  but  just  leave 
them  alone.  But  we  must  take  an  interest  in  them,  and 
see  that  they  are  growing  in  grace.  When  we  preach  the 
Gospel  let  this  be  our  aim,  the  conversion  of  souls  right 
there  on  the  spot. 

Q.  How  would  you  cure  a  chronic,  fault-finding  church 
member  ? 

A.  Pray  for  him.  Pray  God  to  cast  that  devil  out. 
Because  it  must  be  a  devil.     Many  people  hinder  the  Word 


1 84  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

of  God  by  just  finding  fault.  They  do  not  like  the  way  re- 
vivals are  conducted.  They  say  it  was  not  so  in  the  days 
of  our  fathers.  They  say  they  did  things  then  in  such  and 
such  a  way  and  they  want  it  so  now.  But  because  God 
acted  in  a  certain  way,  years  ago,  is  that  any  reason  that  it 
should  be  so  now  ?  These  men  who  find  fault  do  more 
harm  in  the  church  than  twenty  do  good.  Wlien  I  first 
began  to  preach  I  thought  it  was  my  duty  to  find  fault 
everywhere,  and  so  I  went  round  scolding,  and  I  got  to  be 
looked  upon  in  a  little  while  as  a  public  bore  and  a  great 
nuisance,  and  then  I  stopped  finding  fault  and  began  to 
preach  Christ  and  people  liked  to  hear  me.  There  are  a 
good  many  men  who  have  great  talents  and  might  do  a 
good  deal  of  good,  who  are  continually  finding  fault.  Their 
hands,  Ishmael  like,  are  against  everybody.  Look  at  Ste- 
phen and  Barnabas  and  the  early  Christians.  We  don't 
find  them  finding  fault  !  They  were  holding  up  and  preach- 
ing Christ,  and  that  is  what  this  world  wants. 

Q.   May  not  a  minister  be  too  personal  in  his  sermons  ? 

A.  Well,  I  don't  know.  It  seems  to  me  that  is  what  we 
want.  Some  men  cover  up  points  so  that  people  won't  see 
them.  I  think  it  is  better  to  bri-ng  them  out.  Personal 
preaching  is  effective.  It  is  not  a  bad  thing  for  a  man 
who  is  sound  asleep  ;  i-t  wakes  him  up.  When  Dr.  Taylor 
was  preaching  the  other  night  so  jDOwerfully,  I  was  annoyed 
at  seeing  a  man  sound  asleep  near  the  platform.  I  asked 
Dr.  Gordon  to  wake  him  up  and  he  looked  at  me  i-n  amaze- 
ment. I  think  it  is  a  religious  duty  to  wake  them  up.  It 
is  terribly  annoying  to  a  man  to  be  preaching  and  have  a 
man  sound  asleep  right  in  front  of  him.  A  little  hunch  of 
the  elbow  may  save  that  man.  I  remember  I  used  to  go 
up  in  the  gallery,  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  get  into  a  com- 
fortable place  and  go  to  sleep.  And  when  I  went  to  Mt. 
Vernon  Church  i  used  to  go  to  sleep  there.  And  one 
day  when  I  was  up  there   in  the  gallery,  sound  asleep,  a 


HOW  CAN  THE  CHURCHES  BE  REVIVED?        185 

young  man  from  Harvard  College,  I  think — and  I  shall 
always  feel  very  grateful  to  him — I  wish  I  knew  his  name 
— gave  me  a  punch  with  his  elbow  and  I  looked  up  and  I 
said  to  myself.  Who  has  been  telling  Dr.  Kirk  about  me  ? 
I  woke  up  just  at  the  right  time.  It  was  just  the  place  in 
the  sermon  that  hit  my  case.  The  perspiration  stood  out 
all  over  me.  I  never  felt  so  cheap  in  my  life,  and  I  thought 
if  I  only  got  out  of  that  church,  I  would  never  go  there 
again.  It  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good  to  wake  me  up. 
So  when  you  see  a  man  asleep  near  you,  wake  him  up.  In 
my  opinion,  the  bulk  of  the  preaching  goes  over  the  heads 
of  the  people.  What  we  want  is  preaching  for  effect. 
Some  people  say,  "  Oh,  that  sermon  is  all  preached  for 
effect."  Of  course  it  is  ;  that  is  what  we  want — to  wake 
people  up. 

Q.  Would  you  encourage  young  converts  to  become 
communicants  of  the  Church  ? 

A.  Certainly  ;  give  them  work  and  nourish  and  care 
for  them.  I  have  yet  to  find  young  converts  who  grow 
much  outside  of  the  church.  As  I  said  the  other  night,  the 
church  of  God  is  the  best  institution  on  earth.  Jesus  laid 
down  his  life  for  the  Church. 

Q.   How  can  gambling  in  our  churches  be  cured  ? 

A.  If  we  have  no  festivals^  or  bazaars,  or  anything  of 
that  sort,  then  we  will  have  no  gambling.  We  don't  have 
any  gambling  at  prayer-meeting. 

Q.  Should  you  advise  a  young  man  of  fifteen,  who  has 
found  the  Saviour,  to  speak  and  pray  in  meeting.'' 

A.  It  is  just  the  place  for  him.  If  he  is  not  welcome 
in  the  large  meeting,  let  him  have  a  young  people's  prayer- 
meeting.  Let  him  get  the  young  ragged  bo3^s  on  the  sUxiet 
and  begin,  with  them.  It  is  good  to  get  hold  of  the  little 
ones.  Do  what  you  can.  If  you  have  but  half  a  talent 
God  will  give  you  more.  One  thing  we  learn  in  the  church 
of  Christ  to  make  use  of  the  one  talent  we  have  and  then 


l86  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

God  will  keep  giving  us  more.  So  let  me  say  to  all  young 
converts — I  don't  care  how  young — go  and  tell  some  one 
about  Christ,  if  you  want  to  get  a  blessing  to  your  own 
soul. 

Q.  Is  there  danger  of  speaking  too  strongly  to  young 
converts.     Is  there  danger  of  hardening  their  hearts  "i 

A.  Well,  we  must  have  tact.  If  we  go  to  them  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Master,  we  will  not  harden  them.  But  if 
we  do  it  does  not  concern  us.  It  is  our  duty  to  speak  to 
them,  and  then  if  they  become  hardened  the  blood  of  their 
guiltiness  is  not  upon  us.  Let  us  be  faithful  and  preach  in 
season  and  out  of  season. 

Q.  What  are  the  best  passages  to  use  in  the  inquiry- 
room  t 

A.  Well,  there  are  a  good  many,  but  perhaps  these  are 
the  best :  John  i.  ii,  12  ;  Isaiah  xxvi.  23,  24  and  liii.  6  ; 
Peter  ii.  24;  John  v.  24  and  iii.  16  ;  Romans  vi.  23  and 
Titus  ii.  II. 


HOW  TO  MAKE  PRAYER-MEETINGS  INTEREST- 
ING. 

QUESTIONS  ANSWERED  BY  MR.  MOODY. 


Q.  "  What  shall  we  do  with  the  awful  pauses  in  our 
meetings  ?  " 

A.  They  can  be  avoided,  I  think,  if  the  minister  is  free 
and  social  and  makes  every  one  feel  at  home.  These 
pauses  are  just  the  times  when  that  man  or  that  lady  who 
are  not  in  the  habit  of  speaking  can  read  a  verse  from  God's 
Word  which  they  have  found  precious  to  their  souls.  In 
this  way  they  can  gain  confidence  to  speak.  A  good  many 
people  have  an  idea  that  they  must  follow  the  minister  and 
preach  a  sort  of  sermon  ;  but  a  word  from  the  Bible  often 
carries  great  comfort. 

Q.  Would  you  have  children  speak  in  the  large  prayer- 
meetings  ? 

A.  Well,  there  is  danger  in  that.  One  great  danger  which 
is  likely  to  beset  children  is  spiritual  pride.  A  great  many 
people  in  the  church,  unfortunately,  are  foolish  enough  if 
a  little  boy  speaks  for  Christ  in  a  touching  way  to  praise 
him ;  and  that  makes  him  very  proud.  I  should  not  like 
to  have  my  child  praised  in  this  way.  Children  learn 
the  sweetness  of  praise  soon  enough  in  the  world.  I  should 
be  a  little  afraid  of  having  boys  and  girls  encouraged  to 
jump  up  in  the  large  prayer-meetings. 

Q.  Do  you  favor  boys'  prayer-meetings  .'' 

A.  By  all  means,  I  have  found  no  meetings  more  blessed 
in  the  work  of  conversion.     The  boys  and  the  girls  should 

187 


1 88  7'^  ALL  PEOPLE. 

meet  by  themselves  under  the  direction  of  some  older  per- 
son of  experience  as  a  leader.  I  have  been  ver}^  much 
mterested  in  the  meetings  for  little  boys  conducted  here  by 
Mr.  Hastings. 

Q.  How  shall  we  get  women  to  speak  in  prayer-meet- 
ings ? 

A.  Well,  if  the  meeting  is  free  and  social,  as  I  said,  1 
don't  think  there  will  be  any  who  are  afraid  to  speak. 
There  are  two  ways  of  conducting  a  prayer-meeting.  The 
minister  may  enter  the  room  with  his  coat  buttoned  up, 
and,  looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  the  left,  take  the  desk 
and  either  go  through  the  reading  of  a  long  hymn  or  make 
a  long  prayer.  Of  course  a  meeting  begun  in  this  way  is 
stiff  and  formal,  and  there  will  be  no  sense  of  freedom. 
Then  there  is  another  way.  The  minister  may  enter  the 
room  in  a  friendly  and  social  way,  shakmg  hands  with  every- 
body and  saying  a  pleasant  word  to  all,  and  perhaps  he 
will  get  the  friends  to  select  the  opening  hymn  or  ask  some 
lady  to  read  a  passage  of  Scripture,  and  the  meeting  will 
be  begun  before  they  know  it.  If  everybody  would  carry 
the  Scriptures  to  the  meetings  there  would  be  no  trouble 
in  keeping  the  meeting  interesting. 

Q.  Would  you  announce  a  subject  for  prayer  previous 
to  the  meeting? 

A.  I  would.  It  has  been  done  in  our  church  in  Chicago, 
and  it  has  been  a  great  help  to  our  prayer-meetings.  We 
want  to  have  these  meetings  a  sort  of  family  gathering 
where  the  mother  who  has  a  son  out  of  Christ  can  bring 
him  before  Jesus,  and  the  whole  church  bear  up  her  peti- 
tion to  the  Lord.  United  prayer  in  faith  that  God  will  an- 
swer our  petitions  will  surely  bring  back  the  blessing. 

Q.  Would  you  encourage  women  to  speak. 

A.  In  a  social  prayer-meeting  I  would  encourage  any- 
one to  speak.  We  want  to  get  all  Christians  at  work  in  the 
service  of  Christ. 


HOW  TO  MAKE  PR  A  YER-MEETINGS  INTERESTING,  189 

Q.  Do  you  believe  in  having  different  ones  to  lead  the 
meeting  ? 

A.  Well,  that  plan  has  been  tried.  Dr.  Cuyler  found  it 
very  successful  in  his  church  in  Brooklyn.  He  often  takes 
a  seat  among  the  congregation  while  the  leader  conducts 
the  prayer-meeting.  One  great  secret  of  success  is  to  get 
others  to  work.  I  would  rather  get  ten  men  to  work  than 
do  ten  men's  work  myself. 

Q.  How  ought  prayer-meetings  to  be  conducted  in  a 
church  without  a  pastor  t 

A.  With  as  much  earnestness  as  possible.  Sometimes 
God  blesses  specially  a  church  when  it  is  without  a  pastor 
because  they  trust  in  His  grace  and  not  in  any  arm  of  flesh. 

Q.  How  would  you  break  up  the  habit  of  making  long 
prayers  t 

A.  I  think  ministers  need  find  no  trouble,  if  they  are 
honest  with  their  people.  They  like  real  plain  talk.  I 
should  speak  to  a  man  making  long  prayers  privately  not 
pubUcly,  and  say  to  him  :  "Your  prayers  need  a  little  more 
unction,  they  are  too  long  for  the  meeting."  Exhortation 
ought  not  to  take  the  pLace  of  prayer,  but  it  is  better  to  have 
an  exhortation  than  a  prayerless  prayer.  That  is  an  abom- 
ination in  the  sight  of  God  and  men.  Some  people  seem 
to  keep  on  praying  because  they  don't  know  where  to  stop. 
Let  there  be  always  a  distinct  object  in  prayer.  I  have 
been  dissatisfied  at  some  of  the  men's  prayer-meetings  in 
the  Tabernacle  because  men  prayed  for  nothing  but  mere- 
ly exhorted.  The  other  night  a  man  was  telling  God  how 
great  He  was  and  how  w^onderfully  He  had  made  man  ; 
and  a  godly  old  saint  who  was  better  acquainted  with  the 
Lord  said,  "  Just  ask  Him  for  something." 

Q.  Suppose  a  man  won't  heed  your  advice  to  make 
prayer  short  ? 

A.  I  should  speak  to  him  again  and  again,  and  if  that 
did  not  bring  about  the  result  I  would  rebuke  Iiim  pubhcly, 


igo  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

I  would  have  a  bell  at  the  meeting.  One  word — don't  rely 
on  your  prayers  but  on  Christ.  Always  remember  that  the 
salvation  of  Jesus  is  free,  and  that  all  may  have  it  by  sim- 
ply taking  it. 

Q.    When  do  you  consider  a  prayer  to  be  too  long  ? 

A.  Well,  if  the  prayer-meeting  is  about  an  hour  long, 
which  I  think  about  the  proper  length,  it  certainly  can't  be 
right  for  two  or  three  men  to  take  up  the  time.  If  a  man 
has  the  cause  of  the  Jews  on  his  heart  let  him  pray  for  them 
and  then  stop.  It  is  awful  to  open  one's  eyes  and  see 
that  a  man  is  teaching  his  own  views  or  criticising  the  opin- 
ions of  other  people  when  he  seems  to  be  praying.  It  chills 
me  right  through. 

Q.  How  many  regular  prayer-meetings  would  you  ad- 
vise a  church  to  sustain  1 

A.  At  our  church  in  Chicago  we  have  six  meetings  a 
week,  divided  up  to  reach  all  classes. 

Q.  What  would  you  do  if  a  man,  whose  piety  the  church 
distrusts,  attempts  to  speak  .'* 

A.  I  would  never  allow  him  to  speak.  The  best  way 
is  to  deal  fairly  and  squarely  with  people.  I  would  rather 
hurt  a  man's  feelings  than  to  have  the  Church  injured.  A 
man  who  pays  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar  when  he  could  pay 
one  hundred  cents  on  a  dollar  had  better  keep  still. 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST,  I. 


We  have  for  our  subject  to-day  the  ist  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  of  John.  Turn  to  the  ist  chapter  of  Matthew  and 
you  will  find  that  Matthew  begins  with  Abraham.  He 
wrote  of  Christ  as  the  son  of  David,  and  you  will  find  him 
all  through  his  gospel  speaking  of  the  Kingdom.  Mark 
begins  where  Malachi  left  off.  He  speaks  of  Christ  as  the 
servant,  going  here  and  there  and  doing  the  will  of  the 
Father.  Luke  begins  with  Zachariah,  and  he  speaks  of 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Great  Physician,  who  has 
come  down  here  to  heal  us.  But  John  goes  beyond  all 
this,  beyond  creation,  clear  into  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
and  brings  Christ  down  from  above,  and  forever  has  set 
the  question  at  rest  in  my  mind  of  the  divinity  of  Christ. 
I  do  not  know  how  any  one  can  read  the  Gospel  of  John 
and  not  be  sure  who  Christ  was.  John  tells  us  in  closing 
what  he  wrote  his  Gospel  for.  It  is  always  well  to  find 
out  in  beginning  a  Gospel,  an  Epistle,  or  any  portion  of  the 
Word  of  God,  who  wrote  it  and  what  he  wrote  it  for.  John 
tells  us  he  wrote  for  this  purpose.  "These  are  written 
that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  and  that  believing,  ye  migiit  have  life  through  His 
name."  Now  you  will  find  that  all  through  the  Gospel  of 
John  you  are  told  to  believe,  believe,  believe,  and  he  wrote 
"the  whole  Gospel  for  that  purpose,  that  we  might  believe 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  so  get  life 
through  Him.  If  we  take  up  the  Gospel  of  John  the  next 
few  days  let  us  bear  in  mind  what  it  was  written  for. 


IC)2  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. 

"  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God. 

"  All  things  were  made  by  him  ;  and  without  him  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made. 

"  In  him  was  life  ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men. 

"And  the  light  shineth  in  darkness  ;  and  the  darkness 
comprehended  it  not. 

"  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God,  whose  name  was 
John. 

"The  same  came  for  a  witness,  to  bear  witness  of  the 
Light,  that  all  men  through  him  might  believe. 

"  He  was  not  that  Light,  but  was  sent  to  bear  witness 
of  that  Light. 

"  That  was  the  true  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into 'the  world. 

"  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by 
him,  and  the  world  knew  him  not. 

"He  came  unto  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him 
not. 

"But  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power 
to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on 
his  name." 

I  do  not  know  any  two  verses  in  the  Word  of  God 
that  I  use  more  with  inquirers  than  these  two  verses.  If 
there  is  a  man  or  woman  that  v^^ants  to  know  how  to  be- 
come a  Christian  you  will  find  it  out  in  these  two  verses. 
They  are  so  simple  a  child  of  five  years  can  understand 
them.  "  He  came  unto  His  own,"  that  is  to  say,  the  Jews, 
"and  His  own  received  Him  not."  They  rejected  Him. 
would  not  have  Him  ;  they  did  not  believe  that  He  had 
come  from  God,  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father.  They  did 
not  believe  in  His  divinity.  "  He  came  unto  His  own, 
and  His  own  receiv^ed  him  not.  But  as  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God." 
"  Him  "  is  not  a  dogma,  a  creed,  but  a  person  that  we 
preach  to  men.  We  do  not  preach  some  dried,  musty 
dogma  of  metaphysics,  but   it  is   the   Son  of  God  in  the 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST  I  193 

heart,  as  we  tried  to  show  you  last  night.  That  is  the  only 
remedy  for  sin.  When  a  man  receives  Him  he  is  a  Chris- 
tian, and  not  till  he  does.  A  man  cannot  follow  Christ 
until  Christ  is  in  his  heart;  "but  as  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God." 
Men  say  that  they  have  not  the  power  to  live  for  God  and 
serve  God,  but  when  a  man  receives  Christ  he  has  power 
to  rCbUt  temptation  and  overcome  sin  and  temptation.  It 
is  not  just  to  have  our  sins  forgiven.  Supposing  all  sins 
represented  by  this  body  of  people  were  abolished  at  once, 
it  would  be  just  as  bad  to-morrow  noon.  We  want  the 
power  implanted  within  us  to  resist  sin,  and  we  cannot 
have  that  power  until  this  new  life  begins.  The  way  to  do 
it  is  to  receive  Him.  He  is  God's  gift  to  the  world,  and 
we  are  saved  by  receiving  that  gift. 

"Which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 

"  And  the  word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us 
(and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  giory  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father),  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

Now  we  get  light  there  in  that  12th  verse.  Every 
sinner  wants  light,  spiritual  light.  Next  in  the  i6th 
verse  we  get  the  fulness  ;  we  want  more  of  His  fulness 
and  power.  Now  he  says,  "And  of  His  fulness  have  all 
v/e  received,  and  grace  for  grace."  Now  that  i6th 
verse,  let  us  lay  hold  of  that :  "  And  of  His  fulness  have 
all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace."  What  was  it  made 
those  Apostles  so  mighty .?  How  v/as  it  they  shook  nations  t 
They  had  received  Him  at  this  moment,  they  had  drank  at 
that  fountain,  they  had  got  so  full  of  the  living  water  that 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  it  rolled  right  out  like  a  living 
spring.  Now,  we  stop  at  the  12  th  verse,  we  have  got 
light  and  are  satisfied.  Now,  let  us  try  and  partake  of 
His  fulness ;  have  we  all  received  of  His  fulness  ?  and  if 
Christians    would  only   receive  of  His    fulness    and    be 

13 


1^4  10  ALL  PEOPLE. 

filled  with  His  spirit,  wliat  a  power  we  would  be  in  the 
churches  and  wherever  our  lot  is  cast.  The  next  thought 
is  this,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  kind  of  preach- 
ing that  won  the  first  disciples  to  Christ.  John  stood  one 
afternoon  between  3  and  4  o'clock,  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
who  had  been  baptized  a  little  while  before,  was  walking 
off  a  little  distance  and  he  cried,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,"  and  Andrew, 
and  John,  the  beloved  disciple,  left  their  master  John  and 
followed  Christ  and  became  His  first  two  disciples.  I  want 
to  call  your  attention  to  how  these  men  were  converted, 
how  simple  it  was.  I  wish  you  would  get  back  to  the 
primitive  days  of  Christianity  and  the  first  days  of  the 
Bible — men  that  were  willing  to  obey  and  to  follow.  We 
are  not  told  that  these  two  men  prayed,  groaned,  sighed  or 
wept,  but  they  just  followed  Him.  They  said,  "  Rabbi, 
where  dwellest  Thou  .'' "  and  He  said,  "  Come  and  see." 
That  was  the  first  invitation  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  Christ 
when  He  commenced  His  ministry,  and  they  were  so  im- 
pressed with  that  interview  that  they  never  left  Him  ;  and 
if  we  can  only  get  men  to  have  one  interview  with  the  per- 
sonal living  Christ  they  will  not  leave  Him.  The  first 
thing  Andrew  did  was  to  find  his  brother.  Before  he  went 
to  bed  he  went  out  and  hunted  up  Peter.  He  was  so  im- 
pressed with  that  interview  that  He  was  the  Messiah  and 
the  Son  of  God  that  away  he  went  and  inquired  of  his 
neighbors  whom  he  met  in  the  street,  "  Have  you  seen 
anything  of  my  brother  ?  Have  you  seen  Peter  ?  "  and  at 
last  he  found  him  and  said  he  wanted  to  take  him  to  Christ, 
and  he  brought  him  to  Jesus,  and  he  did  a  good  day's 
work,  didn't  he  ?  I  say  3'ou  cannot  tell  what  the  result 
will  be  if  you  bring  a  man  to  Christ ;  he  may  be  a  Knox, 
a  Whitcliffe,  or  a  Bunyan  or  a  Newton.  I  would  like  to 
have  seen  Peter  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  he  looked 
at  those   three  thousand  persons  who  were   converted.     I 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST,  I,  195 

can  imagine  Andrew  saying,  "  If  they  are  not  my  children 
they  are  spiritually  my  grandchildren.  I  led  Peter  to 
Christ  and  he  led  them."  There  may  be  a  reformation  in 
some  little  tow-headed  boy  whom  you  lead  to  Christ ;  there 
may  be  a  genius  there,  and  the  spirit  of  God  may  come 
upon  that  boy  and  he  may  go  out  and  win  hundreds  to 
Christ  as  Peter  did.  And  the  next  thing  we  find  Christ 
going  forth,  and  He  led  them  to  Philip,  and  all  He  said 
•was  "  Follow  me."  Very  simple,  wasn't  it  ?  And  Philip 
followed  Him  and  never  left  Him.  I  suppose  if  a  person 
should  become  a  Christian  in  this  Tabernacle  to-day,  that 
is  very  simple,  a  great  many  skeptics  would  make  great 
sport  of  it,  "  the  idea  of  becoming  a  Christian  by  just  fol- 
lowing !  "  All  Philip  did  was  to  follow,  and  not  only  that, 
but  he  showed  that  he  was  truly  converted  by  hunting 
after  Nathaniel,  his  friend.  That  is  a  pretty  good  sign  of 
conversion  when  a  man  goes  out  after  some  one  else,  and 
if  a  man  has  not  got  the  spirit  to  go  out  and  hunt  up  some 
one  else  it  is  a  pretty  good  sign  that  he  has  not  got  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  There  were  two  brothers  in  London  and 
one  was  quickened  and  the  other  converted,  and  who  had 
a  brother  in  the  South  of  Ireland  who  was  not  a  Christian, 
and  they  telegraphed  him,  "  Come  at  once,  very  important 
business."  And  he  came  to  London  and  they  took  him 
into  their  private  office  and  sat  down,  with  streaming  eyes, 
and  told  that  brother  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  them, 
and  they  brought  him  up  to  the  meeting  that  evening  and 
into  the  inquiry-room  and  led  the  man  to  Christ.  That 
despatch  was  truthful,  "very  important  business."  If  you 
have  got  a  brother  out  of  the  fold  go  and  fetch  him.  Do  as 
Andrew  did  when  he  found  his  brother  Peter,  and  as  Philip 
did  when  he  fon.md  his  friend  Nathaniel  under  the  fig  tree, 
and  bring  him  to  Christ.  Nathaniel  was  full  of  prejudice, 
like  a  great  many  men  in  Boston,  full  of  prejudice  up  to 
his  eyes,  and  he  said,  "  Can  any  good  thing  -come  out  of 


196 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


Nazareth  ?  "  Philip  was  full  of  tact,  and  that  is  what  we 
want  to-day,  men  full  of  tact  in  discussing  with  souls.  He 
said,  "  Come  and  see."  He  knew  if  Nathaniel  had 
one  interview  with  the  Son  of  God  it  would  scatter  all 
his  prejudice  ;  and  he  brought  him  to  Jesus,  and  he  never 
left  Him.  Just  five  minutes  interview  with  the  Son  of 
God  scattered  all  his  prejudice  and  unbelief.  And  so  let 
us  go  to  these  men  who  are  full  of  prejudice  and  tell  them 
to  come  and  see  Christ.  Let  us  introduce  them  to  the 
Son  of  God,  and  let  us  live  so  near  to  Christ  that  we  can 
do  that,  and  there  will  be  many  of  these  men  that  are 
bitter  and  full  of  prejudice  like  Nathaniel,  that  will  be 
brought  to  the  Son  of  God. 


CHRIST'S  MIRACLE  AT  CANA  OF  GALILEE. 


We  have  for  out  subject  to-day  the  2d  chapter  of 
John,  descriptive  of  Christ's  miracle  of  turning  the  water 
into  wine  at  the  marriage  of  Cana.  When  Moses  com- 
menced to  perform  his  miracles  down  in  Egypt,  he  turned 
water  into  death  ;  but  when  Christ  commenced  his  mira- 
cles he  turned  water  into  life  and  joy,  for  wherever  wine 
occurs  in  the  Scripture  it  is  the  emblem  of  joy  and  gladness, 
and  he  turned  the  water  into  joy  and  gladness.  Moses 
turned  it  into  death.  That  is  the  difference  between 
the  law  and  the  Gospel.  The  law  was,  "  Thou  shalt  die  ; " 
that  was  the  penalty  of  the  law;  but  the  Gospel  was  life;  and 
Christ  now  commenced  his  miracles  by  giving  us  this  won- 
derful power  of  turning  the  water  into  life,  into  wine,  into  joy. 
Now  there  is  a  class  of  people  who  tell  us  there  are  no 
miracles  but  can  be  explained  by  natural  causes.  They 
try  to  prove  that  all  these  miracles  that  Christ  performed 
were  really  a  sort  of  sleight-of-hand  performance  ;  that  no 
such  thing  as  a  supernatural  thing  occurred  while  Christ 
was  here,  and  a  miracle  is  a  supernatural  event,  some- 
thing wonderful.  I  would  like  to  have  a  man  explain  how  this 
water  was  turned  to  wine;  in  fact  I  would  like  to  have  a  man 
explain  how  He  performed  all  these  miracles  if  they  were  not 
supernatural.  I  think  that  we  are  having  miracles  now  just 
about  as  wonderful  as  those  which  Christ  performed  when 
He  was  on  earth.  I  heard  in  the  little  meeting  after  the  noon 
prayer-meeting,  yesterday,  of  a  man  who  got  up  and  stated 
that  he  came  here  a  week  ago  to-day.  He  had  been  a  con- 
firmed drunkard — a  great  drunkard  for  thirty  years— and  the 


igg  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

God  of  heaven  had  taken  away  his  appetite  for  strong  drink, 
and  his  face  shone  as  he  told  what  God  had  done  for  him. 
The  case  of  that  man  I  considered  supernatural.  I  would 
like  to  have  a  man  explain  how  such  a  thing  is  done  by  nat- 
ural causes.  I  know  there  are  a  great  many  men  who 
doubt  these  witnesses.  If  a  man  told  me  five  years  ago 
that  a  man  could  be  a  drunkard  for  thirty  or  forty  years 
and  then  could  have  his  appetite  taken  away  from  him,  I 
would  have  doubted  his  word.  I  have  always  believed  that 
God  could  save  a  drunkard,  but  I  believed  that  he  had  to 
carry  that  appetite  down  to  the  grave ;  but  God,  I  find,  is 
going  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  this  appetite 
for  strong  drink  is  one  of  the  devil's  works.  Taking 
away  a  man's  appetite  for  drink  is  a  supernatural  work, 
and  that  is  what  God  does.  Right  here  in  the  chapter  to- 
day is  what  the  mother  said.  "  Whatsoever  He  saith  unto 
you,  do  it."  If  men  will  do  what  God  says  He  will  give 
them  power  to  resist  temptation,  and  resist  the  tempter 
and  overcome  every  temptation  they  have.  If  we  do  not 
obey  Him  and  do  what  he  tells  us  how  can  we  expect  that 
He  is  going  to  give  us  the  blessing  we  ask  ?  Let  men  take 
this  very  sentence,  and  I  would  like  to  give  it  as  the  key- 
note of  the  meeting,  "Whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it." 
What  does  He  say  1  If  there  is  a  man  out  of  Christ,  He 
says,  "  Come  unto  Me  ;"  "Him  that  cometh  unto  Me  I  will 
not  in  any  wise  cast  out!"  I  don't  care  who  it  is.  "  Him 
that  cometh  unto  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  Your 
heart  may  be  as  black  as  hell,  but  bring  it  to  Christ  and 
He  will  cleanse  it  and  purify  it.  He  came  into  this  world 
just  to  save  sinners.  I  was  very  much  interested  last 
Friday  in  seeing  a  man  that  sat  near  the  reporters'  stand, 
and  he  was  so  very  drunk  that  he  fell  asleep  before  the 
service  began.  I  was  glad  to  see  him  here;  I  am  glad  to 
get  such  people  here.  I  was  glad  to  get  hold  of  this  man. 
After  the  meeting  was  over  some  one  tried  to  get  him  into 


CHRIST'S  MIRACLE  AT  CANA  OF  GALILEE.      199 

the  second  meeting,  but  he  would  not  go.  They  tried 
hard,  but  he  started  off.  He  came  in  afterwards,  thoug'i, 
and  presented  himself  for  prayer.  I  suppose  a  good  many 
even  perhaps  professed  Christians,  would  say,  "  It  is  no 
use  praying  for  that  man,  he  is  too  drunk  ;  "  but  they  did- 
gather  around  him  and  did  pray  for  him,  and  have  been  look- 
ing for  him  ever  since.  Last  night  I  found  him  in  the  in- 
quiry room,  and  he  had  been  there  eight  times  and  he  was 
sober  last  night,  and  not  only  that  but  he  tells  a  very  sin- 
gular story  to  the  man  that  don't  know  anything  about 
the  workings  of  the  Spirit.  He  said  that  he  was  on  his 
team  and  the  boys  said  to  him,  "  Moses  " — his  name  was 
Moses — "go  into  that  Tabernacle,"  and  he  came  in  here, 
and  he  has  been  here  eight  times ;  he  thinks  he  is  too 
great  a  sinner  to  be  saved.  Thank  God,  Jesus  Christ 
came  for  him  and  I  am  thankful  he  is  here  to-day  and  the 
Son  of  God  wants  to  save  him.  It  is  the  power  of  God  taking 
hold  of  a  man's  heart  and  turning  the  whole  current  of  his 
life,  I  want  it  understood  that  these  meetings  are  for  just 
such.  If  men  think  they  have  no  sins  to  repent  of  there 
is  no  need  of  their  coming  here,  but  if  a  man  has  got  a  sin 
he  wants  to  be  rid  of,  an  appetite  or  some  besetting  sin,  we 
want  to  tell  him  that  Jesus  Christ  can  create  a  new  heart 
in  him.  You  may  call  that  supernatural.  Every  conver- 
sion, I  believe,  is  supernatural.  This  trying  to  tell  men  to 
work  into  the  kingdom  of  God  is  the  devil's  own  work,  be- 
cause they  cannot  get  in  there  themselves. 

We  are  told  by  a  great  many  skeptics  that  the  reason 
they  do  not  accept  Christ  is  because  it  is  against  their  rea- 
son. But  God  is  above  the  infidel's  reason.  Th^y  say  it 
is  as:ainst  nature.  Let  them  turn  this  over  in  their  mind 
that  God  is  above  nature.  It  is  supernatural.  That  is 
what  conversion  is.  I  don't  believe  a  man  will  ever  see  the 
Kingdom  of  God  that  is  not  converted  ;  and  it  will  be  su- 
pernatural.    A  supernatural   conversion.     I  know  that  a 


2  00  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

man  will  never  see  God  in  His  Kingdom  unless  he  is  su- 
pernaturally  converted — he  must  be  born  of  the  Spirit. 
Now  I  would  like  to  ask  every  infidel  here  to  do  what  one 
promised  to  do  at  the  inquiry-meeting  yesterday  afternoon  ; 
a  minister  stayed  here  and  labored  with  him  till  5  o'clock, 
and  while  trying  to  convince  that  man,  four  or  five  others 
standing  near  expressed  their  desire  to  lay  hold  on  Jesus. 
That  is  the  kind  of  workers  we  want.  I  would  just  like 
to  see  400  of  them  in  Boston  taking  hold  in  that  way,  and 
I  don't  believe  there  would  be  many  infidels  left.  The 
minister  worked  with  this  man  and  finally  he  said,  "  I  will 
go  home  and  call  on  the  God  of  the  Bible."  He  never  had 
done  such  a  thing  before,  but  he  said  he  would  go  to  Him 
now  and  try  to  pray  to  the  God  of  the  Bible  and  find  if 
these  things  were  so.  That  is  the  way  to  do  it — be  honest ! 
If  infidels  are  honest  to  God,  God  will  be  honest  with  them. 
Let  any  honest  man  come  honestly  to  God  and  try  to  find 
out  and  learn  something  from  Him,  and  God  will  teach 
him,  but  a  good  many  people  try  to  teach  God  something. 
They  are  wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  so  they  do  not  find 
anything  in  Scripture.  If  a  person  is  only  willing  to  be 
taught,  how  quickly  God  will  reveal  Himself  to  them  !  We 
must  be  ready  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  then  we  will  know 
the  doctrine,  but  if  we  are  not  ready  to  obey  Him  we  will 
not  understand  it.  Let  us  pray  for  the  meeting  to-morrow. 
I  expect  wonderful  things  from  that  meeting.  God  has 
already  answered  our  prayers.  As  I  look  around  this 
audience  I  see  quite  a  number  who  have  been  slaves  to 
strong  drink,  but  who  have,  by  the  grace  of  God,  got  the 
victory.  I  see  already  those  around  me  here  in  Boston 
who  have  been  converted  by  the  power  of  God.  Trust  in 
God.  That  is  what  we  want.  Let  us  keep  at  it.  If  we  see 
any  man  troubled  with  an  appetite  for  strong  drink  let  us 
go  for  him.  Let  us  go  around  as  missionaries  till  to-morrow 
at  12  o'clock.     Don't  be  afraid  to  come  to  these  meetings. 


CHRIST S  MIRACLE  AT  CANA  OF  GALILEE.      201 

Some  people  say  they  are  afraid  to  ask  their  friends  to 
come,  they  are  afraid  they  might  feel  hurt  if  they  should 
ask  them  to  attend  these  meetings.  It  is  pride.  Pride 
and  whisky  don't  go  well  together.  In  order  to  get  the 
victory  over  whisky  we  must  get  the  pride  out  of  our 
hearts.  Don't  let  pride  forbid  your  coming  to  Christ.  That 
is  worth  moie  than  pride.  Fostering  pride — that  don't 
help  you.  May  God  give  you  the  victory  over  pride.  If 
you  ask  God  for  it,  God  will  do  it  very  quick.  Paul  says 
it  is  not  by  work  ye  shall  be  saved,  but  by  belief.  Now, 
"whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it,"  and  see  if  you  don't 
get  this  new  name  and  this  new  heart.  Are  you  weary  ? 
He  says,  "  Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that  are  weary  and 
heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  You  can  find  rest 
in  Him.  "Whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  Are 
you  blind  ?  Then  go  with  3'our  blindness  and  He  will  give 
you  sight  and  open  the  eyes  of  your  soul  and  cause  you  to 
see  wonderful  things  in  Him.  He  will  no  longer  appear 
"  Like  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground,  without  form  or  comeli- 
ness," but  if  God  opens  our  eyes,  and  He  can  do  it,  3'Ou 
will  see  that  "  He  is  the  chief  among  ten  thousand,  and  the 
one  altogether  lovely ; "  He  will  be  like  the  lily  of  the 
valley,  or  the  Rose  of  Sharon,  or  the  bride  of  the  morning 
star.  You  say  that  you  see  no  beauty  in  Christ,  and  that 
your  heart  is  dark  and  full  of  bitterness.  Bring  it  to  the 
Son  of  God,  and  ask  him  to  cleanse  your  heart  and  fill  it 
with  love  and  truth  and  peace  and  life,  and  He  will  do  it." 
"Whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  Oh,  may  God  help 
you  to  do  what  He  may  tell  you,  and  if  you  come  with  all  your 
sins  He  will  forgive  you.  There  are  a  great  many  people 
who  want  to  come  to  Christ,  but  they  want  to  bring  their 
faith,  a  few  prayers,  some  tears  and  a  few  good  resolutions  ; 
and  they  want  to  bring  a  few  good  works  :  and  they  think 
that  is  going  to  be  acceptable.  My  dear  friends,  God  don't 
want  that.     What  he   wants  is  your  sins.     The  enly  thine- 


202  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

a  sinner  has  got  that  God  has  not  is  his  sins,  and  the  only 
thing  that  God  wants  you  to  bring  him  is  your  sins.  If  you  do 
so  He  will  take  them  and  put  them  out  of  the  way,  and  cast 
them  behind  His  back,  and  neither  devil  nor  man  can  find 
them  if  God  puts  them  away.  That  is  supernatural ;  that 
is  not  the  work  of  man.  Bear  in  mind  God  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day  and  forever.  He  has  got  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins,  and  if  men  will  only  do  what  the  Lord  tells 
us  to  do,  there  will  be  no  trouble.  If  they  are  bound  by 
Satan  to  this  world,  God  will  snap  the  fetters  asunder  and 
set  the  captive  soul  free.  Now  you  men  that  are  standing 
outside  and  criticising,  and  see  no  beauty  in  Christ  and  in 
these  services,  just  come  and  see,  have  an  interview  with 
Him,  come  to  his  feet,  cast  your  sins  upon  Him,  and  He 
will  put  them  away,  and  he  will  give  you  peace  in  the  place 
of  unrest,  joy  in  the  place  of  sorrow,  light  in  the  place  of 
darkness,  and  the  blessings  of  Heaven  if  you  will  only  come 
to  Him.  The  rich  blessing  of  Heaven  will  come  unto  every 
soul  here  to-day  if  you  will  only  do  whatsoever  He  tells  you 
to  do.  Oh,  may  God  help  us  to-day  to  lay  aside  our  preju- 
dices 5tnd  our  unbelief  and  come  as  we  are  and  ask  for  a 
bles'f'^g,  and  He  will  not  disappoint  us.     Let  us  pray. 


CHRIST  THE  REMEDY  FOR  SIN. 

THE    NEW    BIRTH. 


We  have  for  our  subject  to-day  the  3d  chapter  of 
John.  I  will  say  a  few  words  and  then  throw  the  meeting 
open.     I  will  read,  commencing  at  the  6th  verse  : 

"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit. 

"  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born 
again. 

"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and 
whither  it  goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit. 

"  Nicodemus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  How  can 
these  things  be  ? 

"Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  a  master 
of  Israel,  and  knowest  not  these  things  ? 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  We  speak  that  we  do 
know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen  ;  and  ye  receive  not 
our  witness. 

"  If  I  have  told  ye  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not, 
how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things?" 

With  this  let  me  read  a  few  verses  in  the  8th  chapter 
of  Romans : 

"  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after 
the  Spirit. 

"  For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath 
made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 

"  For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  w^eak 
through  the  flesh,  God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  like- 
ness of  sinful  flesh,    and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in   the 

flesh  : 

203 


204 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


"  That  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled 
in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit. 

"For  they  that  are  after  the  flesh  do  mind  the  things 
of  the  flesh  ;  but  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit  the  things 
of  the  Spirit. 

"  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death  \  but  to  be  spirit- 
ually minded  is  life  and  peace. 

"  Because  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God :  for 
it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can 
be. 

"  So  then  they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God." 

I  think  you  will  see,  by  reading  that,  why  it  is  that  a 
man  needs  to  be  born  again.  They  that  are  in  the  flesh 
cannot  please  God.  There  must  therefore  be  a  new  birth. 
I  find  that  since  I  spoke  on  this  third  chapter,  about  sudden 
conversions,  a  great  many  have  come  to  me  and  written  to 
me  to  say  that  they  cannot  set  the  day  and  hour  that  they 
were  converted.  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  prove 
the  day  and  the  hour  when  we  were  born  of  the  Spirit ;  the 
question  is,  Have  we  been  born  of  the  Spirit?  and  we  can 
find  that  out  by  putting  the  tests  to  ourselves.  If  we  love 
the  world,  or  ourselves,  or  our  friends,  more  than  we  love 
the  Lord,  it  is  a  good  sign  that  we  have  not  been  born  from 
above,  because  if  we  have  been  born  of  the  Spirit,  God 
takes  the  first  place  in  our  hearts,  and  if  He  does  not*do 
that,  it  is  a  pretty  good  sign  that  we  have  not  been  born 
again.  If  we  cannot  tell  the  day  and  the  hour,  but  can  say 
that  we  really  do  love  God  above  everything  else,  that  God 
has  the  first  place  in  our  hearts,  it  seems  to  me  good  evi- 
dence that  we  have  been  born  again.  If  we  have  not  that 
evidence,  let  us  give  up  all  our  false  hopes  and  seek  a  hope 
worth  having.  It  says  in  the  ist  of  Corinthians,  15th 
chapter  : 

"The  first  man,  Adam,  was  made  a  living  soul;  the  last 
Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit. 

"  Howbeit  that  was  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that 
which  is  natural ;  and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual. 


CHRIST  THE  REMEDY  FOR  SIN. 


•05 


"  The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy  :  the  second 
man  is  the  Lord  from  heaven. 

"  As  is  the  earthy,  such  are  they  also  that  are  earthy : 
and  as  is  the  heavenly,  such  are  they  also  that  are  heav- 
enly. 

"  And  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall 
also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly." 

Now,  first  comes  the  natural,  then  comes  the  spiritual. 
Now,  if  we  have  to  go  into  the  spirit  then  we  arc  born  of 
the  spirit  ;  if  we  have  not,  why  let  us  not  be  going  on  with 
this  terrible  delusion  that  we  will  grow  into  it.  Some  peo- 
ple have  an  idea  that  this  is  a  thing  that  they  have  got  to 
educate  themselves  into,  to  grow  into.  Now  if  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  the  birth,  this  being  born  again,  it  must  be  the  work 
of  God  and  not  our  work,  it  must  be  something  from  above, 
it  is  not  natural  but  supernatural,  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
turning  the  whole  current  of  our  life,  because  he  says  in 
the  2d  Epistle  of  Corinthians,  the  5th  chapter  and 
the  17th  verse,  that  "  old  things  are  passed  away;  be- 
hold, all  things  are  become  new."  Therefore,  if  any 
man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature.  Now,  it  seems  to 
me  as  soon  as  we  get  this  in  our  mind  correctly  we  will 
give  up  this  idea  of  trying  to--  save  ourselves.  I  don't  be- 
lieve any  man  or  woman  is  ever  saved  until  they  get  done 
trying  to  save  themselves  and  they  let  the  Lord  save  them. 
When  they  get  to  the  end  of  the  flesh,  of  their  own  good 
dealings,  and  accept  Christ  as  their  Saviour  and  God  be- 
comes their  salvation,  then  it  is  that  they  get  life,  and  they 
don't  get  spiritual  light  until  they  get  done  with  their  own 
efforts,  because  no  flesh  shall  be  justified  by  the  deeds  of 
the  body,  and  if  we  cannot  be  justified  by  the  deeds  of  the 
body  let  us  give  up  trying.  When  people  tell  me  they  are 
going  to  try  and  save  themselves  I  know  what  that  means  ; 
they  are  not  going  to  become  Christians.  No  man  or 
woman  ever  became  Christians  until  they  got  done  working 
themselves  and  took  salvation  as  a  gift,  and  it  is  a  gift,  for 


2o6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

it  is  written  in  the  Bible  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  are  death, 
but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life."  If  you  work  for  a  thing 
it  is  not  a  gift,  you  have  earned  it  by  your  own  effort.  In 
the  4th  chapter  of  Romans  it  says  it  is  to  him  that  worketh 
not,  but  believes.  If  we  just  get  done  working  for  salva- 
tion and  take  it  as  God's  gift,  then  we  get  it  and  work  from 
the  cross  and  not  toward  it ;  we  work  because  we  are 
saved  and  not  to  be  saved.  I  have  heard  an  illustration 
which  I  think  illustrates  *^his  point.  A  man  buys  a  farm 
and  there  is  a  well  on  the  farm,  and  he  has  an  old  pump 
to  the  well,  and  one  of  the  neighbors  tells  him  that  he 
hadn't  better  use  the  water,  for  the  man  who  lived  there 
before  was  poisoned.  He  says  :  "  I  will  see  about  that," 
and  takes  and  pain.ts  the  old  pump,  and  says,  "  now  that 
water  is  all  right."  He  goes  to  pumping  and  drinks  the 
water,  and  of  course  he  is  poisoned.  That  is  what  men 
are  trying  to  do,  to  paint  up  the  old  pumps,  when  their 
heart  is  sending  forth  this  poisonous  water.  If  your  heart 
has  been  regenerated,  and  you  have  been  born  of  the  Spirit, 
then  your  life  will  be  right  ;  there  will  be  no  trouble  then ; 
a  man  will  not  have  to  serve  God ;  he  cannot  help  it ;  it 
becomes  his  nature  then.  A  man  who  has  been  blasphem- 
ing and  swearing  will  not  want  to  swear,  because  God  has 
recreated  him  in  the  Image  of  God  ;  he  is  born  of  the 
Spirit  from  above.  If  a  man  has  not  got  this  nature  which 
goes  out  toward  God,  it  is  a  true  sign  he  has  not  been  born 
of  God.  God's  plan  is  altogether  different  from  ours.  Man 
is  all  the  time  trying  to  patch  ap  and  mend.  God  never 
mends  anything.  He  always  creates  anew,  and  when  Adam 
fell  it  was  a  new  creation  ;  and  that  is  what  we  must  have, 
and  when  a  man  is  born  anew  of  the  spirit  then  he  has  got 
a  life  that  can  serve  God,  and  not  until  then. 


CHRIST  THE  WATER  OF  LIFE. 


We  have  for  our  subject  to-day  the  4th  chapter  of  John. 
There  is  so  much  in  it  I  hardly  know  where  to  begin,  but  I 
will  just  take  two  verses,  the  13th  and  14th  verses  : 

"  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  Whosoever  drinketh 
of  this  water  shall  thirst  again  : 

"  But  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
him  shall  never  thirst  ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life." 

When  Christ  became  our  substitute,  and  was  expiring 
on  the  cross,  He  could  not  look  upon  sin,  and  he  cried,  "  I 
thirst."  And  when  a  man  turns  his  face  from  God,  when 
he  turns  his  back  on  the  God  of  Heaven,  he  always  begins 
to  thirst.  Whenever  you  can  find  a  man  away  from  God 
he  is  thirsting  for  something.  He  may  not  know  just  what, 
but  he  knows  he  is  thirsty.  Now  we  are  told  here  that  the 
waters  of  this  world,  the  rivers  and  streams  that  flow 
through  it  are  never  satisfying,  but  that  "  He  that  drinketh 
of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him,  it  shall  be  in  him  a  well 
of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life."  Now,  this 
water  comes  from  Christ.  It  is  the  very  gift  of  Christ.  It 
is  said  down  here  in  the  17th  chapter  of  Exodus  and 
the  6th  verse  :  "  Behold,  I  will  stand  before  thee  there, 
upon  the  rock  in  Horeb,  and  thou  shalt  smite  the  rock, 
and  there  shall  come  water  out  of  it,  that  the  people  may 
drink.  And  Moses  did  so  in  the  sight  of  the  elders  of 
Israel."  If  you  turn  over  to  the  first  of  Corinthians, 
loth  chapter  and  4th  verse,  you  will  find  Paul  says  that 
rock  was  Christ :  "  And  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual 


2o8  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

drink  :  For  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  that  followed 
them  ;  and  that  rock  M'as  Christ."  Now  if  we  drink  of  the 
water  that  comes  from  that  rock  it  will  satisfy,  and  there  is 
no  one  that  can  be  satisfied  until  they  have  come  to  the 
fountain  which  has  been  opened  in  the  house  of  David  for 
sin  and  uncleanness.  It  not  only  cleanseth  from  our  sins, 
but  it  satisfies.  Just  turn  over  now  to  Jeremiah,  ii.,  13, 
and  you  will  find  what  suffering  God  brings  against  those 
that  are  backsliders  :  "  For  my  people  have  committed  two 
evils  ;  they  have  forsaken  Me,  the  fountain  of  living  waters, 
and  hewed  them  out  cisterns,  broken  cisterns,  that  can  hold 
no  water." 

This  is  what  backsliders  are  doing,  here  in  Boston,  they 
are  hewing  out  broken  cisterns  that  can  hold  no  water  ;  and 
wherever  you  can  find  a  man  or  woman  who  has  ever  known 
Christ  and  turned  their  back  on  Him  they  are  thirsty,  they 
cannot  be  satisfied.  It  says  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter 
and  the  second  chapter,  that  there  are  wells  without  water ; 
these  wells  that  we  dig  are  not  full  of  the  water  of  life  ;  a 
man  cannot  satisfy  himself  ;  a  man  has  got  to  know  that 
God  must  satisfy  him,  and  if  he  attempts  to  satisfy  himself 
he  will  only  be  disappointed.  "  These  are  wells  without 
M'ater,  clouds  that  are  carried  with  a  tempest ;  to  whom  the 
mist  of  darkness  is  reserved  forever."  Again,  Jude  speak- 
ing of  the  same  thing  in  the  12th  chapter  says,  "  These  are 
spots  in  your  feast  of  charity,  when  they  feast  with  you, 
feeding  themselves  without  fear ;  clouds  they  are  without 
water,  carried  about  of  winds ;  trees  whose  fruit  withereth, 
without  fruit,  twice  dead,  plucked  up  by  the  roots."  And 
so  wherever  you  can  find  a  man  that  has  got  away  from 
this  living  fountain  he  is  all  the  time  thirsty.  I  remember 
once  when  I  was  coming  down  the  Tennessee  River  in  a 
boat  full  of  wounded  soldiers.  It  was  in  the  spring  time, 
when  the  water  was  very  roily.  There  was  a  teaspoonful 
of  sand  almost  to  a  tumbler,  and  you  could  not  filter  '>  as 


CHRIST  THE   WA  TER  OF  LIFE. 


209 


it  was  just  after  a  battle,  and  give  it  to  every  soldier.  We 
gave  it  to  the  men,  but  it  didn't  quench  their  thirst.  The 
more  they  drank  the  more  they  wanted.  We  gave  it  to  one 
man  who  was  dying,  and  I  remember  well  the  last  words  that 
he  said,  "  O,  for  a  draught  of  water  from  my  father's  well.'' 

Ah  !  that  ought  to  be  the  prayer  of  every  child  of  God 
and  of  every  backslider,  "  O,  for  a  draughr  of  water  from  my 
father's  well !  "  and  if  we  drink  of  that  living  water  from 
the  wells  of  salvation  it  will  satisfy.  In  the  55th  chapter 
of  the  Prophecy  of  Isaiah  we  read,  "  Ho,  every  one  that 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no 
money ;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and 
milk  without  money  and  without  price."  God  invites  you 
to  come.  He  wants  you  to  come,  and  if  you  come  you  can 
drink.  Salvation  is  just  as  free  as  water.  When  you  go 
to  a  stream  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  drink,  and  salvation  is 
flowing  at  the  feet  of  every  sinner,  and  all  he  has  to  do  is 
to  drink  and  live.  God  offers  it  to  everyone ;  "  he  that 
hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy  and  eat ;  yea,  come  buy 
wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without  price."  Thank 
God,  there  is  no  price  to  salvation,  it  is  as  free  as  any  gift 
we  can  have,  and  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  take  it.  The  world 
is  very  deceitful ;  it  has  deceived  hundreds  of  thousands. 
The  world  undertakes  to  satisfy  men,  and  how  many  has  it 
allured  away !  Once,  out  on  the  plains,  as  we  were  travel- 
ing along,  we  thought  we  could  see  water.  The  men  and 
beasts  with  us  were  very  thirsty.  On  we  started  towards 
w^hat  we  thought  was  water,  but  we  were  deceived. 

It  was  only  what  was  called  the  mirage.  We  saw  some- 
thing like  water  a  little  further  on  ;  again  we  were  disap- 
pointed, and  we  w^ent  on  and  on  for  hours  and  still  could 
get  no  water,  and  I  didn't  know  wdiat  was  going  to  be  the 
result.  So  it  is  with  hundreds  and  thousands  of  people, 
they  think  that  a  little  further  on  they  will  find  that  which 
v\ill  satisfy  them.     Bui  at  last  we  saw  water,  and  the  mules 

14 


2IO  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Started  on  a  dead  run  for  it.  When  we  reached  it  the 
men  were  so  thirsty  that  they  did  not  wait  to  get  their  cups, 
but  drank  out  of  their  caps  or  anything  else.  It  was  sweet, 
and  so  the  water  of  b'fe  is  sweet  to  the  man  tliat  is  really 
thirsty.  The  trouble  is  that  people  are  thirsty  for  this 
water  and  do  not  know  it.  They  are  thirsty,  but  they  do 
not  know  they  are  thirsty  for  this  living  water.  When  it  is 
brought  to  them  and  offered  to  them  they  say,  "We  don't 
want  it."  May  God  show  us  to-day  that  we  have  a  thirst 
for  this  water  and  that  we  can  satisfy  it.  Whenever  you 
find  a  man  or  woman  who  has  been  drinking  of  this  water, 
he  will  tell  you  that  it  satisfied  him.  But  those  who  have 
run  away  from  God  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  satis- 
fied. In  the  2d  chapter  of  Genesis  we  read  of  a  river  run- 
ning through  Eden.  Then  in  the  last  chapter  but  one, 
the  2 1  St  chapter  of  Revelation,  we  hear  again  about  the 
river.     We  will  take  that  ist  verse  in  the  22nQ  chapter  : 

"  And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear 
as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb." 

Then  we  find  again  in  the  7th  chapter  of  Revelations, 
17th  verse  : 

"  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall 
feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of 
waters  :  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." 

Ah,  that  is  a  picture  of  our  future  home — the  Lamb 
leading  us  to  the  fount  of  living  water  !  Turn  now  to  the 
15th  chapter  of  Luke.  Here  we  find  a  man  in  the  lost 
world  crying  for  one  drop  of  water.  That  is  not  granted. 
But  if  we  will  come  to  Christ  just  as  we  are,  weary  and 
thirsty,  He  will  give  us  a  drink  of  this  living  water. 
There  need  not  a  man  or  woman  go  out  of  this  Tabernacle 
without  being  satisfied  if  they  will  only  come  to  Christ. 
There  was  a  young  miss  going  to  a  spring  for  water,  and 
when  she  found  it  dry  she  started  to  go   up  higher.     On 


CHRIST  THE  WATER  OF  LIFE.  211 

the  way  a  person  met  her  who  asked  her  what  she  would 
do  if  she  found  that  dry  too.  She  answered  that  she  would 
go  up  still  higher  to  another  spring.  So,  my  friends,  if  the 
springs  we  have  been  drinking  out  of  have  got  dry,  let  us 
go  a  little  higher  up.  There  we  will  find  a  fountain  that 
has  never  yet  been  dry.  It  bursts  forth  from  the  throne 
of  God  ;  it  is  the  pure  stream  of  the  water  of  life.  Thank 
God  for  this  living  water,  that  when  it  comes  into  our  hearts 
leads  us  up  to  the  throne  of  God.  The  poor  Samaritan 
woman  came  for  a  pitcher  of  water,  and  she  got  a  whole 
well,  and  the  whole  town  was  moved  by  what  she  said. 
Are  there  not  some  poor,  thirsty  ones  here  to-day  that  will 
take  this  cup  and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  ?  Let 
us  pass  the  cup  around.  After  you  have  drank  from  it, 
pass  it  to  your  neighbor ;  pass  it  around  and  drink  freely. 

A  lady  in  Scotland  said :  "  You  are  always  talking 
about  taking  but  is  there  any  place  in  the  Bible  about  it  ? " 
Now  we  do  not  manufacture  our  texts. 

Let  a  man  just  read  his  Bible  and  he  will  have  enough 
to  speak  about  though  he  lived  to  be  as  old  as  Methuselah. 
1  told  her  so  and  she  asked  me  if  I  would  show  her  the 
place  where  it  spoke  about  taking.  I  said  I  would  and 
referred  her  to  Revelation,  almost  the  last  word  in  which 
is  "taVe." 

"  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  sa}^,  Come.  And  let  him 
that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

Thank  God,  salvation  is  free.  In  spite  of  all  that  infi- 
dels and  skeptics  have  said,  it  is  as  free  as  the  air  we 
breathe.  If  there  is  a  man  or  a  woman  goes  out  of  this 
building  to-day  without  salvation,  it  is  his  own  fault.  It  is 
offered  without  money  and  without  price.  "  Let  him  that 
heareth  say,  Come."  If  God  says  come,  all  the  devils  in 
hell  cannot  stop  you.  The  only  thing  that  keeps  people 
out  of  the   kingdom  of  God  is  their  will,  not  their  sins. 


212  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Christ  said  that  He  would  put  them  all  away.  "  Let  him 
that  is  athirst,  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water 
of  life  freely."  Thank  God  that  we  have  come  to  this  and 
that  we  have  been  permitted  to  hear  of  this  third  chapter 
of  John  to-day  ;  it  will  be  a  well  from  which  shall  flow  the 
water  of  everlastins:  life. 


CHRIST  THE   PHYSICIAN. 


We  have  for  our  lesson  to-day  the  5th  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  according  to  John.  Of  course  we  have  not  time  to 
read  this  whole  chapter,  but  most  of  you,  perhaps,  have 
been  familiar  with  it.  This  man  had  been  lame  eight  and 
thirty  years,  and  he  had  been  lying  at  the  pool,  and  when 
the  waters  were  troubled  others  that  were  better  able  than 
he  stepped  in  and  were  cured.  He  could  not  reach  the 
healing  waters  and  had  given  up  all  hope  of  ever  reaching 
them.  The  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this 
— that  Christ  helped  the  man  that  could  not  help  himself. 
I  remember  that  during  the  war,  when  a  doctor  came  into 
the  ward  of  a  hospital,  he  always  went  for  the  worst  cases 
first,  those  that  were  most  severely  wounded,  and  I  have  an 
idea  that  that  is  the  way  the  Great  Physician  works.  Some 
wonder  why  such  abandoned  characters  are  saved  first  in 
meetings  like  this,  but  it  seems  to  be  the  Great  Physician's 
way.  Here  is  a  man  that  has  been  eight  and  thirty  years 
lame,  and  Christ  came  to  him  and  said,  "  Wilt  thou  be  made 
whole  ?  "  And  the  man  told  his  pitiful  story  that  he  had 
no  one  to  help  him  and  could  not  get  to  the  pool  ;  and 
Christ  with  a  word  commanded  him  to  arise,  take  up  his 
bed  and  walk,  and  he  did  so.  It  was  instantaneous ;  the 
man  did  not  have  to  wait  six  months  or  six  years  and  go 
to  the  apothecary's  for  a  lot  of  herbs  to  swallow.  It 
was  done  at  once.  The  key-note  of  this  chapter  of  John  is 
the  power  of  the  word  of  the  Son  of  God.  After  healing 
this  man,  He  tells  the  people  precious  truths,  and  you 
will  find  always  that  he  did  so,  after  performing  a  miracle. 
These  miracles  were  perhaps  designed  to  wake   them  up, 


2  14  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

to  arouse  their  attention.  Let  me  read  the  24th  ver»e, 
which  I  think  is  one  of  the  most  precious  verses  in  the 
whole  Bible.  If  every  other  one  were  blotted  out,  there 
would  be  truth  enough  in  that  verse  to  save  every  soul  in 
this  building: 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth  my 
word,  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me,  hath  everlasting 
life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation  ;  but  is  passed 
from  death  unto  life." 

I  suppose  a  great  many  of  those  Jews  wondered  and 
marvelled  at  this  wonderful  miracle,  that  this  lame  man 
had  been  made  well,  but  Christ  tells  them  that  the  hour  is 
coming  when  the  very  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  and  come  forth.  We  find  in  the  fourth  chapter  the 
Centurion  coming  and  speaking  about  his  son  being  sick, 
and  Christ  sent  back  word,  '"'  Thy  son  liveth  ; "  and  he  re- 
turned, and  he  found  that  at  that  very  hour  the  son  was  made 
well.  The  Jews  are  marvelling  at  these  wonderful  things, 
but  He  says,  "  the  hour  is  coming  when  the  dead  shall 
hear  the  voice  and  co-me  forth."  Soon  after  Jairus's  daughter 
was  raised  from  the  dead.  He  had  unbelievers  and  skeptics 
around  them  then,  as  we  have  now.  The  philosophers 
doubtless  said,  "  This  child  was  not  dead  ;  they  made  a 
mistake  ;  she  was  gone  into  a  sort  of  a  faint."  A  little 
while  after,  He  met  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain,  and  he 
spoke  the  word  and  brought  him  back  to  life.  Doubtless, 
a  good  many  said  that  the  young  man  was  not  dead  and  so 
now  men  try  to  explain  away  the  miracles  by  natural  causes. 
So,  He  took  Lazarus  after  he  had  been  dead  four  days 
and  his  body  had  turned  black  and  was  putrefying  and 
brought  him  to  life.  When  Christ  told  these  men  that  the 
dead  would  hear  His  voice  and  come  to  life,  He  did  not 
leave  them  without  some  evidence  that  what  He  said  was 
true.  He  gave  them  a  specimen  of  his  power.  You  have  mer- 
chants here  who  put  specimens  of  goods  in  their  windows, 


CHRIST  THE  PHYSICIAN:  215 

and  so  Christ  gave  us  a  specimen  of  what  He  was  going  to 
do  on  the  resurrection  morning,  so  we  have  no  ground  to 
doubt  that  all  the  dead  will  be  brought  to  life.  Therefore 
let  us  writ  ovei  all  our  cemeteries,  ''  The  dead  shall  rise 
again,  they  shall  come  forth  and  shall  live."  Now  that  was 
pretty  strong  meat  for  those  Jews.  The  idea  that  they  should 
hear  the  voice  of  this  carpenter,  or  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  of 
Nazareth  ;  the  idea  that  his  voice  should  raise  all  the  dead 
is  pretty  strong  meat.  But  now  he  just  brings  in  the  wit- 
ness. If  you  turn  over  to  the  33d  verse — and  He 
speaks  now  of  the  witnesses  that  testify  of  Him — "  Ye  sent 
unto  John,  and  he  bare  witness  unto  the  truth,"  Turn 
back  to  the  19th  verse  of  the  ist  chapter  of  John, 
and  you  find  that  the  priests  and  Levites  were  sent  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  ask  John  who  he  was.  They  came  and 
said  "Who  art  thou.''"  and  he  confessed  he  was  not  the 
Christ,  and  said,  "  I  am  not  the  Christ ;  "  and  they  asked 
him,  "  What  then  ?  Art  thou  Elias  ?  "  He  said,  "  I  ani 
not."  "  Arttliou  that  Prophet?"  and  he  answered,  "No."- 
"  Then  said  they  unto  him,  Who  art  thou  ?  that  we  may 
give  an  answer  to  them  that  sent  us.  What  sayest 
thou  of  thyself  ?  " 

"And  they  asked  him  and  said  unto  him.  Why  baptizest 
thou  then,  if  thou  be  not  that  Christ,  nor  Elias,  neither  that 
prophet  ? 

"John  answered  them,  saying,  I  baptize  with  water  :  1  ut 
there  standeth  one  among  you,  whom  ye  know  not ; 

"  He  it  is,  who  coming  after  me  is  preferred  before  me, 
whose  shoe's  latchet  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose. 

"These  things  were  done  in  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan, 
where  John  was  baptizing. 

"  The  next  day  John  seeth  Jesus  coming  unto  him,  and 
saith,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world," 

Now  he  said  to  those  very  men,  who  were  sent  to  John 
to  inquire  who  he  was,  "  And  he  testified  of  me,  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 


2i6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"  He  said,  I  have  got  another  witness.  I  receive  not 
testimony  from  man  j  but  these  things  I  say,  that  ye  might 
be  saved. 

"  He  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light ;  and  ye  were 
willing  for  a  season  to  rejoice  in  His  light. 

"  But  I  have  greater  witness  than  that  of  John  :  for  the 
works  which  the  Father  hath  given  me  to  finish,  the 
same  works  that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  me,  that  the  Father 
hath  sent  me. 

Now,  I  have  not  only  got  John  for  a  witness  but  these 
works  I  am  doing.  How  are  you  going  to  account  for  that 
man  who  was  lame  for  thirty-eight  years  and  made  whole 
by  my  voice  ?  How  are  you  going  to  account  for  that  cen- 
turion's son  who  was  dying  and  I  spoke  the  words  and  he 
was  made  whole  ?  These  works  I  am  doing  in  your  sight. 
If  you  will  not  believe  my  witnesses  believe  me  for  my 
work's  sake.  What  overflowing  testimony  they  had  that 
He  was  manifest  in  the  flesh  and  came  from  heaven  to  do 
the  will  of  His  Father  !  But  He  says,  I  have  got  another 
witness  besides  these  works  :  "And  the  Father  Himself 
which  hath  sent  Me,  hath  borne  witness  of  Me."  Not 
that  He  is  going  to,  but  haih  already  done  it.  When  He 
was  baptized  in  Jerusalem  and  came  out  of  the  Jordan, 
there  was  a  voice  fell  from  heaven  saying,  "  This  is  My 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ;  hear  ye  Him." 
God  bare  witness  that  Christ  was  his  Son  ;  "  This  is  My 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Then,  again, 
on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  when  He  took  Peter, 
James  and  John  up  with  Him,  and  Moses  and  Elias  were 
talking  with  Him,  and  a  cloud  came  upon  Him,  and  there 
came  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud  from  the  throne  of  heaven, 
saying,  "  This  is  My  beloved  son,  hear  ye  Him,"  God  bare 
witness  for  Christ ;  what  more  witness  do  we  want  ?  Then 
He  said  I  have  another  :  "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;  for  in 
them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life  ;  and  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  Me."     There  are  four  witnesses  :  John  the  Baptist, 


CHRIST  THE  PHYSiCIAN.  217 

the  works  that  He  performed,  God,  His  Father,  and  the 
Scriptures,  and  if  you  turn  over  into  the  Old  Testament 
you  will  find  that  Moses  and  the  Psalmist  and  the  prophets 
all  testified  of  Christ,  Why,  when  Philip  went  out  there  to 
preach  to  that  eunuch  he  found  him  reading  the  53d 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  he  commenced  and  preached  Christ 
to  him.  He  found  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament.  There 
are  a  great  many  men  in  Boston  who  cannot  find  Christ 
there  because  the  devil  has  blinded  them.  If  they  had 
their  eyes  open  they  could  find  Him  upon  every  page  of 
Scripture  ;  if  you  hunt  for  Him  you  will  find  Him  there. 
"  Search  the  Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life,  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  Me."  Yes, 
Moses  wrote  of  Him,  David  wrote  of  Him  and  Elijah  and 
the  prophets  testified  of  Him  ;  and  we  find  that  nearly 
every  prophet  testified  of  His  coming.  No  one  wrote  more 
beautifully  of  Him  than  the  prophet  Isaiah.  It  seems  to 
me  that  we  have  got  all  the  proof  we  want  that  this  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  that  He  came  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Father  and  came  to  save  the  world.  If  you  will 
call  upon  Him  He  will  help  you.  Just  come  to  Him  and 
He  will  give  you  power  to  speak  for  him.  He  will  open 
your  eyes  and  you  will  see  Him.  He  will  c  pen  your  ears 
and  you  will  hear  the  voice  of  the  blessed  Gospel.  Ask 
and  you  will  receive. 


CHRIST   THE   BREAD   OF   LIFE. 


We  come  to-day  to  the  6th  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  John.  In  the  3rd  chapter  we  find  Christ  a 
Remedy  for  sin  ;  in  the  4th  chapter  we  find  Him  as  the 
Water  of  Life  ;  in  the  5th  chapter  we  find  Him  as  the 
Physician ;  and  to-day  in  the  6th  chapter  we  find  Him  as 
the  Bread  of  Life. 

"  After  these  things  Jesus  went  over  the  sea  of  Galilee, 
which  is  the  sea  of  Tiberias. 

"And  a  great  multitude  followed  him,  because  they 
saw  his  miracles  which  he  did  on  them  that  were  diseased. 

"  And  Jesus  went  up  into  a  mountain,  and  there  he  sat 
with  his  disciples. 

"  And  the  passover,  a  feast  of  the  Jews,  was  nigh. 

"  When  Jesus  then  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  a  great 
company  come  unto  him,  he  said  unto  Philip,  Whence  shall 
we  buy  bread,  that  these  may  eat  ? 

"  And  this  he  said  to  prove  him  :  for  he  himself  knew 
what  he  would  do. 

"  Philip  answered  him,  Two  hundred  pennyworth  of 
bread  is  not  sufficient  for  them,  that  every  one  of  them 
may  take  a  little. 

"  One  of  his  disciples,  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother, 
saith  unto  him, 

"  There  is  a  lad  here,  which  hath  five  barley  loaves,  and 
two  small  fishes  ;  but  what  are  they  among  so  many  ? 

"  And  Jesus  said,  Make  the  men  sit  down.  Now 
there  was  much  grass  in  the  place.  So  the  men  sat  down, 
in  number  about  five  thousand. 

"  And  Jesus  took  the  loaves  ;  and  when  he  had  given 
thanks,  he  distributed  to   the  disciples,  and  the  disciples 


CHRIST  THE  BREAD   OF  LIFE.  219 

to  them  that  were  set  down  ;  and  likewise  of  the  fishes  as 
much  as  they  would. 

"When  they  were  filled,  he  said  unto  his  disciples, 
Gather  up  the  fragments  that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost. 

"  Therefore  they  gathered  them  together,  and  filled 
twelve  baskets  with  the  fragments  of  the  five  barley  loaves, 
which  remained  over  and  above  unto  them  that  had 
eaten. 

"  Then  those  men,  when  they  had  seen  the  miracle 
that  Jesus  did,  said.  This  is  of  a  truth  that  prophet  that 
should  come  into  the  world. 

"  When  Jesus  therefore  perceived  that  they  would 
come  and  take  him  by  force,  to  make  him  a  king,  he 
departed  again  into  a  mountain  himself  alone." 

We  find  this  chapter  opens  by  their  trying  to  make 
Christ  their  king,  and  it  closes  by  their  trying  to  kill  Him. 
It  opens  with  a  great  many  followers  of  Christ  and  closes 
with  but  few.  They  were  following  Him  for  what  they 
could  get,  and  not  for  what  Christ  was.  There  is  one  class 
of  people  who  are  always  disappointed,  and  they  are  those 
who  are  after  the  loaves  and  fishes.  The  thought  I  want 
to  call  your  attention  to  is  about  Philip  and  the  barley 
loaves,  the  faith  Philip  must  have  had,  and  how  it  grew 
when  he  received  the  five  barley  loaves  and  two  small 
fishes,  and  fed  5000  people.  There  were  five  loaves  and 
two  fishes,  and  the  barley  loaves  were  very  small.  As  some 
one  has  said,  I  can  imagine  that  when  he  came  to  the 
first  man  he  broke  off  a  little  piece,  saying  :  "  We  have  so 
few  loaves  that  we  cannot  give  much."  But  when  he  found 
that  the  loaf  did  not  grow  any  smaller  the  next  man  got 
more,  and  the  next  man  still  more  ;  and  I  can  imagine  he 
got  reckless  after  that  and  gave  liberally  and  every  man 
had  what  he  wanted.  The  lesson  we  learn  here  is  to  bring 
what  few  talents  we  have  to  Christ.  They  will  be  enough. 
These  few  barley  loaves  and  fishes  were  enough  for  that 
great  multitude,  and  we  may  have  but  few  talents  and 
think  we  are  small   in  the  sight  of  God — so  we  ought  to — 


220  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

and  if  God  will  only  bless  us  and  use  the  talents,  God  will 
feed  the  multitude  and  bless  hundreds  and  thousands. 
Then  we  find  also  in  this  chapter  Christ  proclaims  Himself 
the  bread  of  heaven  three  times,  "/^;//."  You  know  when 
Moses  went  down  into  Egypt  he  said,  "  Lord,  what  shall  I 
tell  the  people  who  ask  me  who  sent  me  \  I  haven't  got 
your  name;  what  shall  I  tell  them  when  they  ask  your 
name?"  And  the  Lord  said,  "I  am  hath  sent  you;  " 
and  some  one  has  said  He  gave  Moses  a  blank  check  and 
told  him  to  fill  it  out  when  he  wanted  anything,  and  when 
he  wanted  bread  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  fill  out  the  check  ; 
and  God  gave  them  bread  from  heaven  and  water  from 
the  rock  ;  and  that  is  just  what  Christ  did.  "  I  am  the 
bread  that  came  down  from  heaven  ;  I  am  that  living 
bread,  if  a  man  eats  of  it  he  never  shall  die."  And  then 
in  the  4th  chapter  He  says  that  He  was  "  the  living 
water;"  in  the  8th  chapter  we  find  Him  "the  light  of 
the  world."  Now,  if  there  is  a  Christian  that  is  thirsty, 
all  you  have  to  do  is  to  go  to  Christ  and  He  will  quench 
3'our  thirst.  You  may  look  at  water,  but  that  will  not 
quench  your  thirst ;  you  may  look  at  the  loaves  of  bread 
in  a  baker's  shop,  but  that  will  not  satisfy  your  hunger  ; 
and  there  are  a  great  many  who  look  at  Christ  and  don't 
feed  upon  Him,  and  who  look  at  water  and  don't  drink. 
Now,  we  are  to  eat  and  drink  of  this  if  we  are  to  be 
satisfied.  He  says  :  "  I  am  the  bread  of  life :  I  came  down 
from  heaven."  And  if  we  eat  of  that  bread  we  never 
shall  die.  We  find  also  in  this  chapter  that  He  gives  a 
glimpse  of  what  He  is  going  to  do.  "  I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life"  in  the  7th  chapter,  but  in  this 
chapter  He  told  them  if  they  believed  in  Him  He  will 
raise  them  up  at  the  last  day.  Your  I  loi/Is  in  that  chapter, 
which  are  very  precious.  "  I  will  raise  them  up  at  the 
last  day."  "/zc///."  And  these  I  wills  of  Chirst  are 
very  precious.     When   He  says  "I   will"   He  means    it, 


CHRIST  THE  BREAD   OF  LIFE.  221 

and  He  says,  "  He  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live  ;  "  and  in  the  47th  verse  of  this 
chapter,  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth 
on  Me  hath  everlasting  life."  Then  in  the  44th  verse, 
"  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day."  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth on  Me  hath  everlasting  life,  and  I  will  raise  him 
up  at  the  last  day."  Now  there  are  a  great  many  Chris- 
tians, I  think,  that  are  what  you  might  call  artificial  Chris- 
tians ;  they  have  got  the  forms,  but  not  the  living  water 
and  the  living  bread,  and  not  the  living  power ;  they  have 
been  looking  at  Christ,  they  have  been  talking  about 
Christ,  but  haven't  received  Him  in  their  life  as  their  way, 
as  their  bread,  and  He  is  all  and  in  all  things.  I  heard 
once  about  some  artificial  bees,  and  they  had  some  secret 
sjDring  in  them,  so  that  they  could  make  these  bees 
walk  round  and  fly,  and  they  were  so  perfect  that  you 
could  not  tell  them  from  the  natural  bee,  but  put  a  little 
honey  down  and  you  could  soon  tell  which  were  the  arti- 
ficial and  which  were  the  real  bees  ;  and  so  you  can  tell  if 
you  bring  the  bread  of  heaven  to  people  who  are  artificial, 
Christians  and  who  the  Christians  are  who  live  on  the 
bread  because  it  sounds  good,  they  like  to  get  the  bread 
of  heaven  ;  and  if  you  can  only  get  to  feed  upon  this  living 
bread  you  become  strong,  but  if  you  have  only  been  living 
on  form  you  become  weaker  and  weaker  and  there  is  no 
power.  Let  us  ask  God  to  give  us  to-day  that  living  bread, 
and  that  we  may  eat  more  and  more  as  we  live. 


CHRIST  THE  FOUNTAIN  OF   LIVING  WATERS. 


We  have  for  our  subject  to-day  the  7th  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  according  to  John.  We  find  Christ  again  in  Jerusa- 
lem. The  last  time  He  was  there  He  healed  the  man  at 
the  pool  of  Bethesda  that  had  been  thirty-eight  years  lame. 
We  find  now  there  is  a  great  commotion  in  the  city.  It 
was  the  feast  of  the  Tabernacle,  a  sort  of  thanksgiving, 
and  the  male  members  of  the  house  of  Israel  were  there 
from  all  parts  of  the  land.  There  was  great  division  about 
Christ.  Undoubtedly,  on  the  corners  of  streets,  and  on 
every  thoroughfare  and  in  other  places  as  you  went  through 
Jerusalem,  you  would  hear  them  talking  about  this  man 
Christ,  who  He  was  and  what  He  was,  and  where  He  was 
from.  Some  were  very  strong  in  His  favor,  and  some 
were  very  strong  against  Him.  It  was  the  same  then  as  it 
is  to-day :  the  world  is  still  divided.  There  are  three  very 
sad  things  in  this  chapter  ;  one  is  that  He  could  not  walk 
publicly  in  Judea,  for  they  sought  to  kill  Him  ;  another  is 
that  His  own  brethren  would  not  believe  in  Him  ;  and  the 
third  is  that  He  was  accused  of  being  possessed  with  a 
devil.  His  brethren  went  up  from  Galilee  alone,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  feast  Christ  also  went  up  alone.  This 
time  He  entered  Jerusalem  alone  and  left  alone.  We  find 
at  the  close  of  the  chapter  that  there  was  a  division  of  His 
people  concerning  Him,  and  every  man  went  into  his  own 
house,  but  Jesus  went  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  He  testified 
against  the  world,  and  of  course  the  world  testified  against 


CHRIS  T  THE  FO  UN  TAIN  OF  LIVING  WA  TERS.     223 

Him.  If  you  testify  against  the  world,  you  may  rest  as- 
sured that  the  world  will  not  love  you.  I  want  to  com- 
mence at  the  twenth-eighth  verse  of  this  chapter. 

"Then  cried  Jesus  in  the  temple  as  he  taught,  saying, 
\e  both  know  me,  and  ye  know  whence  I  am  :  and  I  am 
not  C(";me  of  myself,  but  he  that  sent  me  is  true,  whom  ye 
know  not. 

"  J3ut  I  know  him :  for  I  am  from  him,  and  he  hath 
sent  me. 

'•Then  they  sought  to  take  him:  but  no  man  laid 
hands  on  him,  because  his  hour  was  not  yet  come. 

"And  many  of  the  people  believed  on  him,  and  said, 
When  Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  more  miracles  than  these 
which  this  man  hath  done  .'* 

"  The  Pharisees  heard  that  the  people  murmured  such 
things  concerning  him  ;  and  the  Pharisees  and  the  chief 
priests  sent  officers  to  take  him. 

"Then  said  Jesus  unto  them.  Yet  a  little  while  am  I 
with  you,  and  then  I  go  unto  him  that  sent  me. 

"  Ye  shall  seek  me,  and  shall  not  find  me:  and  where  I 
am,  thither  ye  cannot  come. 

"  Then  said  the  Jews  among  themselves,  Whither  will 
he  go,  that  we  shall  not  find  him  ?  will  he  go  unto  the 
dispersed  among  the  Gentiles,  and  teach  the  Gentiles  t 

"  What  manner  of  saying  is  this  that  he  said,  Ye  shall 
seek  me,  and  shall  not  find  me  :  and  where  I  am,  thither 
ye  cannot  come  ? 

"  l\\  the  last  day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood 
and  cried,  saying.  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me, 
and  drink. 

'•  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  scripture  hath  said, 
out  c»f  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water. 

''  (But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  be- 
lieve on  him  should  receive  :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not 
yet  given  ;  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.)  " 

That  last  day,  that  memorable  day  of  the  feast,  He 
cried,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me  and 
drink."  That  great  convocation  was  soon  to  break  up, 
and  many  of  them  would  never  see  Him  in  the  flesh  again 
or  hear  His  voice.     Before  they  broke  up  and  left  the  city 


224 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


and  were  scattered,  He  gave  them  this  broad  invitation, 
"If  any  man  thirst ;  "  I  like  that,  "  If  any  man  ; "  it  takes 
them  all  in.  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me 
and  drink."  A  lady  came  to  me  yesterday  after  the  noon 
meeting  and  wanted  to  know  what  it  is  to  come  to  Christ. 
Why,  it  is  just  to  accept  of  His  invitation  to  come  to  Him  ; 
put  your  trust  in  Him,  believe  on  Him,  have  faith  in  Him, 
cast  yourself  right  upon  Him  wholly,  unreservedly  ;  Jay 
your  sins  upon  Him,  "  casting  all  your  cares  upon  Him, 
for  He  careth  for  you."  It  is  taking  as  our  advocate  and 
as  our  Lord,  and  taking  His  righteousness  in  place  of  our 
own.  We  renounce  our  own  and  take  Christ's  own  right- 
eousness. That  is  what  it  is  to  come  to  Christ.  Now, 
here  is  a  universal  invitation  for  the  whole  world  :  "  If  any 
man  thirst."  Now,  if  a  man  thirsts  all  he  has  to  do  is  to 
come  to  Christ  and  drink  and  He  will  give  him  all  he 
wants.  There  is  a  fable  in  the  East  of  a  fountain  some- 
where among  the  mountains  of  India,  and  one  drop  of  that 
water  dropped  into  an  empty  vessel  would  fill  it  to  a  cease- 
less overflow,  even  a  well  of  water  springing  up  evermore. 
So  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  believer's  heart. 
Then  to  be  sure  this  is  a  fable,  but  if  the  Holy  Ghost  comes 
into  a  believer's  heart  and  dwells  there,  it  is  that  living 
v/ater,  it  is  that  fount,  and  "  if  an}^  man  thirst  let  him  come 
unto  me  and  drink."  It  takes  in  Christians  as  well  as 
those  that  are  not  Christians,  and  if  we  thirst  we  can  get 
the  living  water  at  this  fountain  because  it  is  ever  flowing, 
it  never  ceases  to  flow,  yet  all  these  1800  years  men  have 
been  drinking  at  that  fountain.  I  thank  God  it  is  not 
empty,  and  all  can  drink  that  will.  I  was  just  taking  up 
this  thought  "  if  any  man,"  and  I  ran  through  a  few  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  and  I  put  them  together,  ''  If  any  man 
hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  unto  him 
and  sup  with  him."  "  If  any  man  lack  wisdom  let  him 
call  on  God  ; "  don't  let  him  call  on  these  wise  men  of  the 


CHRIST  THE  FO  UNTA  IN  OF  LIVING  WA  TERS.     225 

world,  they  don't  know  anything  about  spiritual  wisdom. 
*'  If  any  man  lack  wisdom  let  him  call  on  God,  who  giveth 
liberally  to  all  men  and  upbraideth  none."  It  seems  we  are 
going  to  men  and  books,  which  cannot  help  us,  and  ne- 
glecting the  true  fountain  of  wisdom,  but  God  says  if  you 
lack  wisdom,  come  to  me  and  I  will  give  it  to  you.  Go  to 
God  and  ask  him  for  knowledge  and  truth  and  wisdom  and 
we  will  get  true  wisdom.  God  never  led  any  one  astray  yet, 
or  into  error  yet ;  he  leads  out  of  darkness  into  light ;  he 
leads  from  bondage  into  liberty,  he  leads  from  error  into 
truth.  Now  he  says,  "  If  any  man  " — that  takes  us  all  in, 
wise  surmise — "  lack  wisdom,  let  him  call  on  God,  who 
giveth  liberally  to  all  men  and  upbraideth  none."  "If  any 
man  serve  Me,  let  him  follow  Me."  Not  to  follow  our 
own  way,  give  up  our  way  and  take  God's  way,  and  give 
up  our  thoughts  and  take  God's  thoughts.  "  If  any  man 
serve  Me  let  him  follow  Me."  "  If  any  man  enter  into  the 
door  he  shall  be  saved."  Now  mark  how  He  puts  it,  "  if 
any  man  "—that  takes  in  the  drunkards,  the  blasphemers, 
the  gamblers,  the  vilest  of  society,  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  highest  and  lowest,  all  classes.  "  If  any  man  enter 
into  the  door  he  shall  be  saved,"  and  if  any  man  be  a  wor- 
shipper of  God,  God  hears  him.  Now  if  you  worship 
idols,  worship  yourselves,  society  and  fashion,  why.  God 
is  not  going  to  hear  you,  but  if  any  man  be  a  true  wor- 
shipper of  God,  God  will  hear  him  ;  and  "if  any  man  do 
His  will  he  shall  know  of  this  doctrine  whether  it  be  of 
God  or  whether  I  speak  for  myself."  Now,  if  a  man  will 
only  do  the  will  of  God,  God  will  reveal  to  him  His  doc- 
trine, he  will  not  be  in  darkness.  "  If  any  man  eat  of  this 
bread  he  shall  live  forever," — that  is,  the  bread  of  heaven. 
If  any  man — I  don't  care  who  it  is,  skeptics  or  infidels,  if 
they  eat  of  this  bread  they  shall  live  forever.  "  If  any 
man  will  come  after  me  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up 
his  cross  daily  and  follow  me." 

15 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.     II. 


We  come  to-day  to  the  8th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  John.  In  this  chapter  Christ  asserts  His  divinity, 
and  I  do  not  see  how  any  one  can  read  the  8th  chapter  of 
John  and  not  beheve  in  the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  The  next  morning  after  He  had  been,  as  it  were, 
driven  out  of  Jerusalem,  He  came  back  into  the  Temple. 
It  says  in  the  last  verse  of  the  7th  chapter  :  "  And  every 
man  went  unto  his  own  house."  "  But  Jesus  went  into  the 
Mount  of  Olives."  But  early  the  next  morning  He  came 
into  the  Temple,  and  they  brought  a  woman  in  to  see  what 
He  would  say  should  be  done  with  her.  He  had  been 
teaching  that  He  had  come  not  to  condemn,  but  to  save. 
The  law  of  Moses  condemned  this  poor  fallen  woman  to 
death,  and  now  they  tried  to  entangle  Him  and  see  what 
He  would  do  with  her.  When  He  had  put  the  test  to  these 
men  and  they  had  all  gone  out,  He  said  to  her,  Neither 
will  I  condemn  thee  ;  go  and  sin  no  more.  Moses  or  Elijah, 
or  any  of  the  prophets,  could  not  have  said  that ;  no  man 
living  could  have  said  that — "  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee, 
go  and  sin  no  more."  In  the  12th  verse  He  says,  "I 
am  the  light  of  the  world."  Moses  could  not  say  I  am  the 
light  of  the  world.  Abraham  could  not  say  it ;  no  other 
man  could  say  that.  I  said  to  my  little  boy,  seven  years 
old,  this  morning,  as  I  was  reading  this  chapter,  "  Willie, 
who  could  say  that  ?  "  He  answered  :  "  Jesus."  "  Who 
else  ?  "  "  God."  "  Who  else  ?  "  "  No  one  else."  ''  I  am  the 
light  of  the  world  ;  if  any  man  follow  Me  he  will  not  walk 


THF  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.     II  227 

in  darkness,  but  will  have  the  light  of  life."  ^Vho  can 
give  light  but  God  ?  In  the  morning  of  creation  He 
said  "  Let  there  be  light,"  and  there  was  light.  Now 
Christ  comes  and  proclaims  Himself  the  light  of  the  world. 
It  would  be  a  great  help  to  us  in  reading  the  Bible,  just  to 
get  this  into  our  minds  that  Christ  was  God  and  man  ; 
sometimes  He  spoke  as  man  and  sometimes  as  God.  That 
gives  us  a  key  to  the  Holy  Bible  but  take  it  away  and  I  do 
not  see  how  you  are  going  to  understand  it.  Without  it  it 
is  a  sealed  book.  Some  people  accuse  us  of  teaching  that 
(jod  died,  but  Christ  died  as  a  man.  God  never  died  and 
never  can  die  —  it  was  the  man  that  died.  Men  die  —  the 
Divinity  never  dies.  Then  he  says  again,  "  I  am  not 
alone,"  "  I  go  My  way,"  "  I  am  from  above."  Who  could 
say  that  but  Him  ?  "I  am  from  above  ;  I  am  not  of  this 
world."  Who  else  could  say  that  if  He  hadn't  come  down 
from  the  world  above  ?  "  If  ye  believe  not  that  I  am  He  ye 
shall  die  in  your  sins."  "  I  speak  to  the  world  those  things 
which  I  have  heard  of  Him."  When  did  He  hear  them  if 
he  hadn't  come  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father  ?  "  When  ye 
have  lifted  up  the  Son  of  man  then  shall  ye  know  that  I 
am  He  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself,  but  as  my  father 
has  taught  me  I  speak  these  things."  Then  in  the  30th 
verse  :  "  As  he  spake  these  words  many  believed  on  Him." 
How  simple  that  was  !  As  he  stood  there  speaking  to  them 
in  the  Temple  many  were  converted  and  believed  on  Him. 
God  received  him  right  there  while  he  was  speaking.  How 
simple  the  conversions  of  the  Bible  are  !  Simply  believing, 
simply  receiving.  Then  in  the  36th  verse.  "  If  the  Son, 
therefore,  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed."  If 
he  were  not  God  how  was  he  going  to  make  us  free  from 
sin  ?  But  "  if  the  Son,  therefore,  shall  make  you  free,  ye 
shall  be  free  indeed."  I  think  there  are  a  good  many  of 
God's  children  who  never  have  got  to  that  verse.  They 
don't  know  what  freedom  is.     They  are   still  asleep  and 


228  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

sunk  in  bondage.  They  are  like  Lazarus,  who  got  out  of 
the  grave  with  liis  grave-clothes  on,  bound  hand  and  foot. 
The  difficulty  with  those  people  is  that  they  are  always  look- 
ing in  their  own  hearts  to  get  freedom,  but  it  is  the  truth 
which  makes  us  free,  the  word  of  God.  Miss  Smiley  was  tell- 
ing about  going  down  South  a  few  years  after  the  war.  She 
went  to  a  hotel,  and  the  room  she  was  shown  to  was  not 
very  clean.  She  said  to  the  colored  woman  who  was  there, 
*'  I  would  like  to  have  you  fix  it  up  ;  I  am  from  the  North, 
and  you  know  the  Northern  people  set  you  free."  She 
went  away  and  came  back  in  a  little  while,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  half  a  day's  work  had  been  done.  "  Now,"  said  the 
colored  woman,  "  bees  I  free  or  beent  I  ?  My  old  master 
tells  me  I  am  not  free,  and  I  got  out  among  the  colored 
people  and  they  say  I  am  free."  There  are  a  great  many 
of  God's  people  just  that  way  ;  they  do  not  know  whether 
they  are  free  or  not.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  feeling.  The 
proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln  set  that  woman  free, 
and  so  it  is  the  proclamation  of  God's  word  that  makes  us 
free,  not  that  we  feel  this  way  or  that  way.  If  we  want  liberty 
in  Christ  we  can  have  it.  When  he  told  them  that,  they 
said,  "we  are  the  descendants  of  Moses  and  Abraham  ; 
we  have  not  been  in  bondage  to  anybody."  And  all  that 
time  they  were  under  the  Roman  yoke.  So  hundreds  of 
men  in  Boston  to-day,  who  are  bound  hand  and  foot  to 
something  in  this  world  do  not  want  to  become  Christians 
because  they  think  they  will  not  have  their  liberty.  The 
truth  will  make  you  free.  That  is  the  only  freedom  worth 
having,  and  if  the  truth  makes  you  free,  you  are  free  in- 
deed. Then  again,  he  said,  "  I  speak  that  which  I  have 
seen  with  my  Father."  He  talked  about  the  mansions 
above  as  freely  as  Queen  Victoria's  children  would  talk 
about  the  rooms  in  Windsor  Castle.  He  was  familiar 
with  those  scenes.  "  But  now  ye  seek  to  kill  Me,  a  man 
that  hath  told  you  the  truth,  which  I  have  heard  of  God." 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.    II.  229 

Then  again  He  told  them,  "  I  proceeded  forth  from  God  ;  " 
that  was  His  own  testimony.  Then,  again,  I  tell  you  the 
truth.  I  tell  it  to  you,  it  is  the  truth.  "  I  honor  My 
Father  ; "  "I  have  come  to  honor  Him  ;  "  "I  have  come 
to  do  Thy  will,  O  God  ;"  ''I  seek  not  My  own  glory,  I 
seek  to  glorify  My  Father  ;  "  "I  say  unto  you  if  any  man 
keep  My  saying  he  shall  never  see  death."  Of  course  he 
is  not  speaking  about  the  death  of  the  body,  but  about  the 
death  of  the  soul.  "  If  any  man  keep  My  saying  he  never 
shall  see  death."  His  words  are  the  words  of  life,  and  if 
a  man  receives  them  he  will  not  die. 

Let  us  read  these  few  verses  closing  this  chapter. 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  If  a  man  keep  my  say- 
ing, he  shall  never  see  death. 

"Then  said  the  Jews  unto  him,  Now  we  know  that 
thou  hast  a  devil.  Abraham  is  dead,  and  the  prophets  ; 
and  thou  sayest,  If  a  man  keep  my  saying  he  shall  never 
taste  of  death. 

"  Art  thou  greater  than  our  father  Abraham,  which  is 
dead  ?  and  the  prophets  are  dead  :  whom  makest  thou 
thyself  ? 

."  Jesus  answered,  If  I  honor  myself,  my  honor  is  noth- 
ing :  it  is  my  Father  that  honoreth  me :  of  whom  ye  say, 
that  he  is  your  God  : 

"  Yet  ye  have  not  known  him  ;  but  I  know  him  :  and  if 
I  should  say,  I  know  him  not,  1  shall  be  a  liar,  like  unto  you  : 
but  I  know  him,  and  keep  his  saying. 

"  Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day :  and  he 
saw  it,  and  was  glad. 

"  Then  said  the  Jews  unto  him.  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty 
years  old,  and  hast  thou  seen  Abraham  ? 

"  Jesus  said  unto  them.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you. 
Before  Abraham  was,  I  am." 

This  forever  settles  in  my  mind  the  question  of  the 
divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  "  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am." 
How  any  man  can  read  the  Gospel  of  John  and  be  in  a:«y 
doubt  about  Christ's  divinity,  the  mischief  is  in  it     Abra 


230  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

ham  was  gone  hundreds  of  years,  and  yet  "  Before  Abra- 
ham  was,  I  am."  "  Then   took   they  up  stones  to   cast   at 
Him ;  but  Jesus  hid  himself,  and  went  out  of  the  Temple 
going  thiough  the  midst  of  them,  and  so  passed  by." 
Let  us  lift  our  hearts  to  God  in  prayer. 


CHRIST  RESTORING  THE  BLIND. 


I  will  read  a  part  of  the  9th  chapter  of  John. 

"  And  as  Jesus  passed  by,  he  saw  a  man  which  was  blind 
from  his  birth. 

"  And  his  disciples  asked  him,  saying  :  Master,  who 
did  sin,  this  man,  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind  ? 

"  Jesus  answered,  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his 
parents  :  but  that  the  works  of  God  should  be  made  mani- 
fest in  him. 

"  I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is 
day:  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man  can  work. 

"  As  long  as  I  am  in  the  world,  I  am  the  light  of  the 
world. 

"  When  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  spat  on  the  ground, 
and  made  clay  of  the  spittle,  and  he  anointed  the  eyes  of 
the  blind  man  with  the  clay, 

"  And  he  said  unto  him,  Go,  wash  in  the  pool  of  Siloam, 
(which  is  by  interpretation,  Sent.)  He  went  his  way, 
therefore,  and  washed,  and  came  seeing. 

"  The  neighbors,  therefore,  and  they  which  before  had 
seen  him  that  he  was  blind,  said.  Is  not  this  he  that  sat 
and  begged  ? 

"  Some  said,  This  is  he :  others  said,  He  is  like  him  ; 
but  he  said,  I  am  he." 

I  am  afraid  that  if  we  had  been  there  a  great  many  of 
us  would  have  kept  still.  We  would  have  thought,  there 
is  going  to  be  a  division  about  this  matter,  and  the  Jews 
had  said  that  if  any  man  confessed  Jesus  as  the  true 
Messiah  he  would  be  put  out  of  the  synagogue.  There  is 
a  division  and  some  opposition, but  this  man  comes  out  bold- 
ly and  says,  "  I  am  he  ;  I  am  the  Man."  Instead  of  coming 
out  boldly  we  would  have   said   nothing   about  it.     That 


232  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

was  all  he  could  say  at  first ;  almost  any  young  convert 
could  say  that.  Here  is  a  confession  ;  with  the  mouth 
confession  is  made  unto  salvation.  If  the  Lord  has  re- 
deemed us  let  us  say  so.  I  was  very  much  encouraged 
last  night  at  the  young  converts'  meeting  to  hear  what  was 
said  by  that  man  who  was  converted  here  a  weeic  ago,  af- 
ter having  been  a  drunkard  for  thirty  years.  After  he  had 
gone  home,  he  said,  an  old  companion  came  to  his  house 
in  Cambridge,  weeping  and  waiting  to  get  power  over  his 
appetite.  He  prayed  with  him  and  showed  him  the  way 
to  Christ,  and  both  were  there  last  night  rejoicing.  This 
man  that  got  his  sight  went  out  and  told  his  story,  and  the 
one  who  has  the  most  influence  with  the  jury  is  the  witness 
that  tells  the  truth.  Now  they  wanted  this  man  to  tell  it, 
and  they  gave  him  the  floor. 

"  Therefore  they  said  unto  him,  How  were  thine  eyes 
opened  ? 

"  He  answered  and  said,  A  man  that  is  called  Jesus 
made  clay,  and  anointed  mine  eyes,  and  said  unto  me.  Go 
to  the  pool  of  Siloam  and  wash :  and  I  went  and  washed, 
and  I  received  sight." 

Now,  of  all  the  blind  men  that  Christ  ever  cured,  I  sup- 
pose there  were  no  two  cured  alike.  The  Lord  never  re- 
peats himself.  Many  want  to  get  their  eyes  opened.  We 
want  it  done  in  the  same  way  that  it  was  done  to  some- 
body else.  Some  of  the  wise  men  to-day  would  consider 
that  Christ's  way  of  giving  this  man  sight  was  absurd.  The 
idea  of  anointing  his  eyes  with  clay  !  That  was  enough  to 
put  out  good  eyesight,  but  if  the  Lord  is  to  work  you  must 
let  Him  work  in  His  own  way.  Don't  you  try  to  work  out 
a  way  for  God  to  come  and  bless  you. 

"  Then  said  they  unto  him,  Where  is  he  1  He  said,  I 
know  not. 

"  They  brought  to  the  Pharisees  him  that  aforetime  was 
blind. 


CHRIST  RESTORING   THE  BLIND.  233 

"  And  it  was  the  Sabbath  day  when  Jesus  made  the  day 
and  opened  his  eyes. 

"Then  again  the  Pharisees  also  asked  him  how  he  had 
received  his  sight.  He  said  unto  them,  He  put  clay  upon 
mine  eyes,  and  I  washed,  and  do  see." 

He  was  not  afrad  to  tell  his  experience  twice,  so  you 
tell  what  things  the  Lord  has  done  for  you  ;  don't  be  afraid 
to  tell  it  out  to  the  world. 

"Therefore  said  one  of  the  Pharisees,  This  man  is  not 
of  God,  because  he  keepeth  not  the  Sabbath  day.  Others 
said,  How  can  a  man  that  is  a  sinner  do  such  miracles  ? 
And  there  was  division  among  them." 

I  am  afraid  if  we  had  been  there  again,  we  would  have 
kept  still ;  we  would  have  thought  there  was  going  to  be  a 
storm. 

"  They  say  unto  the  blind  man  again.  What  sayst  thou 
of  him  that  he  hath  opened  thine  eyes?  " 

What  do  you  think  of  it  ?  And  the  man  answers,  "  He 
is  a  prophet."  He  has  got  talking  about  the  Master  now. 
First  he  said,  "  I  am  he  to  whom  it  was  done,"  and  now 
he  says,  "  He  is  a  prophet."  xA.nd  let  me  say  to  young  con- 
verts, tell  what  the  Lord  has  done  for  you,  and  don't  go  to 
talking  about  yourself.     "  He  is  a  prophet,"  said  the  man. 

"  But  the  Jews  did  not  believe  concerning  him,  that  he 
had  been  blind,  and  received  his  sight,  until  they  called  the 
parents  of  him  that  had  received  his  sight. 

"  And  they  asked  them,  saying.  Is  this  your  son,  who 
ye  say  was  born  blind  .-*  how  then  doth  he  now  see  ? 

"His  parents  answered  them  and  said.  We  krow  that 
this  is  our  son,  and  that  he  was  born  blind." 

I  do  not  like  the  parents  ;  it  was  mean  and  cowardly 
for  them  to  say  that.  They  knew  the  son  did  not  tell  a  lie. 
They  knew  how  he  had  got  his  sight,  but  they  were  afraid 
that  they  would  be  cast  out  of  the  synagogue.  There  are 
a  great  many  here  who  are  troubled  in  the  same  way  ;  they 
are  afraid  that  they  will  lose  caste.     The   idea  that  they 


234 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


have  been  to  the  Tabernacle  !  and  they  come  peeping  around 
here,  afraid  that  if  they  are  seen  they  will  lose  caste. 

"  But  by  what  means  he  now  seeth,  we  know  not  ;  or 
who  hath  opened  his  eyes,  we  know  not :  he  is  of  age  ;  let 
him  speak  for  himself." 

I  say  that  was  mean  and  cowardly.  They  had  not  the 
moral  courage  to  Gome  out  and  tell  what  Christ  had  done 
for  their  son.  They  might  have  had  the  gratitude  to  ac- 
knowledge it. 

"  These  words  spake  his  parents,  because  they  feared 
the  Jews  :  for  the  Jews  had  agreed  already,  that  if  any  man 
did  confess  that  he  was  Christ,  he  should  be  put  out  of  the 
synagogue." 

You  know  it  was  a  pretty  serious  thing  then  to  put  a  man 
out  of  the  synagogue ;  there  was  no  other  church  for  him 
to  go  to.  In  these  days,  if  a  man  is  turned  out  of  the 
Methodist  Church  he  can  go  to  the  Baptists,  and  if  the 
Baptists  turn  him  out  he  can  go  into  the  Presbyterian  or 
Congregationalist ;  he  can  get  into  some  other  church  ;  but 
there  was  no  other  church  then.  It  was  a  pretty  serious 
thing  to  be  ruled  out  of  society  and  looked  down  upon. 
But  this  man  was  willing  to  leave  everything  for  Christ. 

"  Then  again  called  they  the  man  that  was  blind,  and 
said  unto  him.  Give  God  the  praise  :  we  know  that  this  man 
is  a  sinner. 

"  He  answered  and  said,  Whether  he  be  a  sinner  or  no, 
I  know  not :  one  thing  I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was  blind, 
now  I  see." 

All  the  infidels  in  the  world  could  not  beat  that  out  of 
him.  They  tried  to  make  him  believe  that  he  was  another 
man,  but  he  knew  what  he  was.  Infidels  try  to  tell  us  that 
we  do  not  change  in  conversion.  Don't  we  know  we  do  ? 
Whereas  we  were  born  blind  we  now  see,  and  all  the  infi- 
dels in  the  world  cannot  beat  that  out  of  us.  This  man 
kuew  it ;  he  knew  that  he  had  been  blind  and  now  could 


CHRIST  RESTORING  THE  BLIND.  235 

see,  and   that  was  more   to  him  than   all  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

"  Then  said  they  to  him  again,  What  did  he  to  thee  ? 
how  opened  he  thine  eyes  ? 

"  He  answered  them,  I  have  told  you  already,  and  ye 
did  not  hear  :  wherefore  would  ye  hear  it  again  ?  Will  ye 
also  be  his  disciples  ? " 

See  him  now  trying  to  make  disciples  of  those  Pharisees. 
There  is  no  convert  but  what  wants  to  make  converts.  He 
had  faith  that  even  these  hard  Pharisees  could  be  converted. 
That  is  what  we  want  in  Boston  ;  these  young  converts 
going  out  trying  to  make  disciples  of  others. 

"  Then  they  reviled  him,  and  said.  Thou  art  his  disci- 
ple ;  but  we  are  Moses'  disciples. 

"  We  know  that  God  spake  unto  Moses  ;  as  for  this 
fellow,  we  know  not  from  whence  he  is." 

I  am  afraid  we  would  have  kept  still  if  we  had  been 
there,  but  this  man  kept  right  on,  he  was  a  match  for  these 
Pharisees. 

"The  man  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Why  herein 
is  a  marvellous  thing,  that  ye  know  not  from  whence  he  is, 
and  yet  he  hath  opened  mine  eyes. 

"  Now  we  know  that  God  heareth  not  sinners  :  but  if 
any  man  be  a  worshipper  of  God,  and  doeth  his  will,  him 
he  heareth." 

Why  he  is  a  regular  theologian ;  he  is  as  sound  as  if 
he  had  passed  through  Andover.  My  friends,  the  ministers 
on  the  platform  could  not  have  done  better.  If  he  had 
been  a  bad  man  you  don't  think  the  Lord  would  have  an- 
swered him  by  blessing  him  and  giving  him  his  s'ght  ? 

"  Since  the  world  began  was  it  not  heard  that  any  man 
opened  the  eyes  of  one  that  was  born  blind. 

''  If  this  man  were  not  of  God,  he  could  do  nothing." 

That  was  good  theology,  wasn't  it  ?  If  the  man  was 
not  of  God,  how  could  he  do  it  ?     Mr.  Parsons,  you  could 


236  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

not  have  said  better  than  that.  There  was  a  blind  beggar 
going  about  the  streets  ;  his  eyes  were  anointed  and  his 
sight  was  restored.  Then  he  says,  I  am  the  man.  Now  he 
preached  a  pretty  good  sermon,  this  poor  beggar.  Here 
is  this  whole  chapter,  forty-one  verses,  devoted  to  this  man, 
because  he  confessed  Christ  boldly  to  Jerusalem. 

"  They  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  wast  alto- 
gether born  in  sins,  and  dost  thou  teach  us  ?  And  they 
cast  him  out." 

They  were  not  going  to  have  him  in  the  temple  any  more. 
Where  did  they  cast  him  ?  Right  into  the  arms  of  Jesus. 
It  is  a  good  thing  to  be  cast  out  from  the  world,  if  we  are 
only  cast  into  the  bosom  of  the  Son  of  God. 

"  Jesus  heard  that  they  had  cast  him  out  ;  and  when  he 
had  found  him,  he  said  unto  him,  Dost  thou  believe  on  the 
Son  of  God .?  " 

No  man  was  ever  cast  out  for  Christ's  sake,  but  He 
heard  of  it.  This  is  a  good  place  to  leave  him,  we  will 
leave  him  right  there  with  the  Master,  worshipping  Him. 
He  could  not  have  got  that  man  to  worship  Him  if  He  had 
not  been  the  God-Man  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father — he 
worshipped  Him. 


CHRIST  THK  GOOD  SHEPHERD. 


We  have  for  our  subject  to-day,  John  x.  I  will  read 
a  few  verses.  I  will  try  to  be  brief,  as  I  want  the  rest  to 
be  brief. 

"  Verily,  verily,  T  say  unto  you,  He  that  entereth  not 
by  the  door  into  the  sheepfold,  but  climbeth  up  some  other 
way,  the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  robber. 

"  But  he  vhat  entereth  in  by  the  door  is  the  shepherd  ot 
the  sheep. 

*'  To  him  the  porter  openeth  ;  and  the  sheep  hear  his 
voice.:  and  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name,  and  lead- 
eth  them  out. 

"  And  when  he  putteth  forth  his  own  sheep  he  goeth 
before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow  him  :  for  they  know  his 
voice. 

"  And  a  stranger  will  they  not  follow,  but  will  flee  from 
him  :  for  they  know  not  the  voice  of  strangers. 

"  This  parable  spake  Jesus  unto  them  :  but  they  under- 
stood not  what  things  they  were  which  he  spake  unto 
them. 

"  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them  again.  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  I  am  the  door  of  the  sheep. 

"  All  that  ever  came  before  me  are  thieves  and  robbers  : 
but  the  sheep  did  not  hear  them. 

"  I  am  the  door  :  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall 
be  saved,  and  shall  go  in  and  out,  and  find  pasture. 

"  The  thief  cometh  not,  but  for  to  steal,  and  to  kill,  and 
to  destroy  :  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly. 

"  I  am  the  good  shepherd  :  the  good  shepherd  giveth 
his  life  for  the  sheep." 

In  this  chapter  we  have  Christ  as  the  door  and  the  good 
shepherd.     Some  one  has  said  that  the  Lord's  sheep  have 

237 


238  TO  AL.^   PEOPLE. 

three  marks.  First,  they  hear  the  voice  of  the  Shepherd  ; 
second,  they  know  the  voice  of  the  Shepherd  ;  third,  they 
follow  tlie  voice  of  the  Shepherd.  They  hear,  they  know, 
and  they  follow.  The  Lord  does  not  say  they  shall  try 
to  follow  Him  but  they  do  follow  Him.  I  once  heard  of  a 
missionary  who  was  in  Syria,  he  was  at  Mount  Lebanon,  and 
a  shepherd  came  down  from  the  mountain-side  to  a  spring 
which  was  there  with  his  sheep,  and  in  a  little  while  a  shep- 
herd came  with  his  flock,  and  then  another  and  another, 
and  it  wasn't  long  before  quite  a  number  of  shepherds  met 
there  with  their  sheep,  and  there  were  nearly  10,000  sheep 
gathered  around  that  spring  of  water. 

The  missionary  wondered  how  they  were  going  to  get 
those  sheep  separated.  They  were  all  together  ;  the  shep- 
herds sat  some  time  talking,  but  by  and  by  one  of  the  shep- 
herds got  up  and,  in  his  own  language,  said,  "  Follow," 
and  his  sheep  knew  his  voice,  and  they  just  came  out  from  - 
the  rest  and  followed  him  up  the  mountain-side.  Presently 
another  shepherd  did  the  same,  and  his  sheep  followed, 
and  he  found  that  those  shepherds  guided  and  controlled 
the  sheep  by  their  voices.  This  missionary  said,  "  Let  me 
see  if  they  will  follow  me  ;  let  me  have  your  cloak  and 
shepherd's  crook  ;  "  and  he  dressed  like  them  and  repeat- 
ed in  the  same  language  the  same  word,  because  he  was 
acquainted  with  the  Arabic  language,  and  the  sheep  would 
not  follow  him.  A  stranger  they  would  not  hear,  and  he 
said  to  the  shepherd,  "Don't  they  ever  follow  strangers  ?" 
The  shepherd  said,  ''Yes,  they  do  sometimes."  The  mis- 
sionary asked  him  when,  and  he  said,  "  Mena,  mena," 
which  means  "  When  they  are  sick."  I  suppose  that  is  the 
reason  why  a  great  many  Christians  follow  strangers,  be- 
cause they  are  sick.  A  man  comes  along  with  a  new  gos- 
pel and  those  who  are  not  healthy  Christians  follow  after 
him.  If  they  really  know  the  true  Shepherd  they  are  not 
going  to  follow  a  stranger.     If  a  man  comes  with  some  un- 


CHRIST  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD. 


239 


sound  doctrine  they  are  not  going  to  be  carried  away.  They 
know  the  Shepherd's  voice  and  will  follow  the  true  Shep- 
herd. In  this  chapter  Christ  speaks,  I  think,  twenty-eight 
times.  He  tells  what  He  is,  who  He  is,  and  what  He  is  come 
for,  twenty-eight  limes.  He  uses  the  personal  pronoun,  "  I 
am  the  way,"  "  I  am  the  door,"  "  I  am  the  good  shepherd," 
"  1  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep,"  "  I  am  the  Son  of  God." 
Twenty-eight  different  times  He  tells  what  He  is,  and  who 
He  is.  He  is  the  door  of  heaven  ;  if  we  ever  enter  heaven, 
we  have  got  to  enter  through  Jesus  Christ.  "  He  that 
climbeth  up  some  other  way,  the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  rob- 
ber." You  may  enter  a  house  through  a  window  or  break 
in  through  the  roof,  but  if  you  are  going  to  enter  heaven,  it 
must  be  through  the  door,  and  that  door  is  Christ  Himself. 
"  I  am  the  way  and  the  truth  and  the  life."  Then  that 
twenty-eighth  verse  to  me  is  very  precious  :  "  And  I  give 
unto  them  eternal  life — life  without  end — and  they  shall 
never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my 
hand."  In  this  verse  the  word  man  is  in  italics.  It  might 
be  put  stronger,  and  no?ie  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand, 
neither  devil  nor  man.  No  one  shall  pluck  them  out  of 
my  hand.  He  will  take  care  of  all  His  sheep  ;  He  is  a 
good  shepherd  ;  He  never  lost  ope  yet.  Suppose  you  had 
a  flock  of  sheep,  and  wanted  a  shepherd,  and  one  came  to 
you  with  his  credentials  and  everything,  and  you  found  that 
he  lost  a  good  many  sheep,  you  would  not  want  him.  The 
Lord  will  take  good  care  of  them  that  put  their  trust  in 
Him.  He  will  not  only  give  them  eternal  life,  but  He  will 
let  none  of  His  flock  slip  out  of  His  hands.  Let  us  trust  in 
Him  ;  let  us  make  Him  our  Shepherd  and  let  us  say  from 
the  heart,  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd,  I  shall  not  want." 
Let  us  pray. 

Our  Heavenly  Father,  we  pray  that  Thy  blessing  may 
rest  upon  every  one  gathered  in  this  building  to-day  who 
can  say  from  the  heart,  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd  ;  "  and 


2  40  ^'c?  ALL  PEOPLE. 

we  pray  that  Thou  wilt  help  us,  each  one  of  us,  to  realize 
more  and  more  what  a  friend  we  have  in  Christ,  what  a 
shepherd  He  is,  how  He  takes  care  of  us,  and  provides  for 
all  our  wants,  how  He  goes  on  before  us  and  leads  us  in 
green  pastures  and  by  the  still  waters.  Help  each  one  of 
us  to  realize  this  blessed,  precious  truth,  and  if  there  are 
any  here  to-day  that  realize  it  not,  that  are  out  of  the  com- 
munion, we  pray  that  the  Shepherd  may  restore  unto  them 
the  joy  of  salvation,  that  the  sheep  may  find  to-day  their 
Restorer.  We  pray  that  Thy  blessing  may  rest  on  them 
that  know  not  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  are  still  on  the  dark 
mountains  of  sin  and  unbelief,  strangers  to  the  grace  of 
God,  strangers  to  the  wonderful  Shepherd  that  came  into 
this  world  of  sin  to  save  those  that  are  lost.  Oh,  may  they 
hear  the  voice  of  the  loving  Shepherd  to-day,  calling  them 
home,  and  may  they  return  to  Him  who  loves  them  and 
gave  Himself  for  them  !  May  they  believe,  to-day,  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  that  belief  receive  eternal  life. 
We  pray  for  all  these  parties  brought  before  us,  to-day,  in 
these  written  requests,  for  these  sons  and  husbands,  wives 
and  daughters  ;  Lord  hear  their  cry  and  save  the  lost !  O 
Lord,  wilt  Thou  remember  the  churches  that  have  sent  up 
requests  for  us  to  pray  for  them  !  We  thank  Thee  that 
Thou  didst  revive  that  church  we  prayed  for  on  the  first 
day,  and  that  it  has  been  quickened.  We  pray  for  every 
church  in  New  England,  and  may  the  day  be  not  far  dis- 
tant when  every  church  in  this  blessed  New  England  may 
be  revived  by  the  power  of  God.  May  the  dark  wave  of 
infidelity  that  is  going  over  this  beautiful,  fair  land  be 
driven  away  by  the  sun  of  righteousness.  We  pray  that  the 
power  of  God  may  be  upon  New  England.  We  pray  for 
the  conference  that  is  to  take  place  a  week  from  to-day, 
and  for  those  who  will  be  gathered  here.  May  the  dele- 
gates that  come  from  all  over  the  Union  be  endowed  with 
power  from  on  high,  and  may  the  Holy  Ghost  fall  upon  us 
as  it  did  upon  the  early  Church  upon  the  day  of  Pentecost ; 
and  may  those  who  come  here  be  endued  with  power  from 
on  high  to  go  back  and  labor  as  they  have  never  done  be- 
fore ;  and  while  we  tarry  together  may  the  Spirit  of  God 
fall  upon  us.  May  men  preach  with  power  and  unction 
from  heaven  and  go  back  and  proclaim  the  truths  of  the 
gospel  as  never  before.  We  ask  it  all,  Heavenly  Father, 
in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Thy  risen  Son.     Amen. 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.  III. 


Our  subject  to-day  is  the  nth  chapter  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  John,  beginning  at  the  23d  verse  : 

"Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again. 

"  Martha  saith  unto  him,  I  know  that  he  shall  rise 
again  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  da3^ 

"Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,  and  the 
life  :  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 
shall  he  live  : 

"  And  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never 
die.     Believest  thou  this  .'' 

"  She  saith  unto  him,  Yea,  Lord  :  I  believe  that  thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  which  should  come  into  the 
world. 

"  And  when  she  had  so  said,  she  went  her  way,  and 
called  Mary  her  sister,  secretly,  saying.  The  Master  is 
come,  and  calleth  for  thee. 

"As  soon  as  she  heard  that,  she  arose  quickly,  and 
came  unto  him. 

"  Now  Jesus  was  not  yet  come  into  the  town,  but  was 
in  that  place  where  Martha  met  him. 

"  The  Jews  then  which  were  with  her  in  the  house,  and 
comforted  her,  when  they  saw  Mary,  that  she  rose  up  has- 
tily and  went  out,  followed  her,  saying,  She  goeth  unto  the 
grave  to  weep  there. 

"  Then  when  Mary  was  come  where  Jesus  was,  and  saw 
him,  she  fell  down  at  his  feet,  saying  unto  him.  Lord,  if 
thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died. 

"  When  Jesus  therefore  saw  her  weeping,  and  the  Jews 
also  weeping  which  came  with  her,  he  groaned  in  the 
sj^irit,  and  was  troubled, 

"  And  said.  Where  have  ye  laid  him  }  They  said  unto 
him.  Lord,  come  and  see. 

"  Jesus  wept. 

16  2^1 


242  '^O  ALL  PEOFLE. 

"  Then  said  the  Jews,  Behold  how  he  loved  him  ! 

"  And  some  of  them  said,  Could  not  this  man,  which 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  have  caused  that  even  this 
man  should  not  have  died  ? 

"Jesus  therefore  again  groaning  in  himself  cometh  to 
the  grave.     It  was  a  cave,  and  a  stone  lay  upon  it. 

"Jesus  said,  Take  ye  away  the  stone.  Martha,  the  sis- 
ter of  him  that  was  dead,  saith  unto  him.  Lord,  by  this 
time  he  stinketh  :  for  he  hath  been  dead  four  days. 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  her.  Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that,  if  thou 
wouldest  believe,  thou  shouldest  see  the  glory  of  God  ? 

"  Then  they  took  away  the  stone  from  the  place  where 
the  dead  was  laid.  And  Jesus  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  said, 
Father,  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me. 

"  And  I  knew  that  thou  hearest  me  always  :  but  because 
of  the  people  which  stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they  may  be- 
lieve that  thou  hast  sent  me. 

"  And  when  he  thus  had  spoken,  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth. 

"  And  he  that  was  dead  came  forth,  bound  hand  and 
foot  with  graveclothes  :  and  his  face  was  bound  about  with 
a  napkin.     Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Loose  him,  and   let  him 

go- 

"  Then  many  of  the  Jews  which  came  to  Mary,  and  had 
seen  the  things  which  Jesus  did,  believed  on  him." 

In  the  loth  chapter  of  John,  which  we  had  yesterday, 
and  the  last  verse,  it  says,  "  And  many  believed  on  Him 
there."  All  through  these  chapters  in  John  we  find  that  as 
He  did  these  miracles  and  spoke  these  words  many  be- 
lieved on  Him.  Now  in  this  chapter  we  find  the  Divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ  shining  out  again.  Turn  from  this  chapter 
to  the  first  book  of  Kings,  17th  chapter  and  19th  verse, 
you  will  find  that  Elijah,  when  he  raised  that  child,  it  was 
not  by  his  own  power  nor  in  his  own  name. 

"  And  he  said  unto  her,  Give  me  thy  son.  And  he  took 
him  out  of  her  bosom,  and  carried  him  up  into  a  loft,  where 
he  abode,  and  laid  him  upon  his  own  bed. 

"  And  he  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  O  Lord  my 
God,  hast  thou  also  brought  evil  upon  the  widow  with 
whom  I  sojourn,  by  slaying  her  son  ? 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.     III. 


243 


"  And  he  stretched  himself  upon  the  child  three  limes, 
and  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  O  Lord  my  God,  I 
pray  thee,  let  this  child's  soul  come  into  him  again. 

"  And  the  Lord  heard  the  voice  of  Elijah  ;  and  the  soul 
of  the  child  came  into  him  again,  and  he  revived." 

In  2d  Kings,  4  chapter,  33d  verse,  it  says:  "He  went 
it\  therefore,  and  shut  the  door  upon  them  twain,  and 
prayed  unto  the  Lord.''  That  was  Elisha.  Those  were 
the  first  two  that  were  raised.  They  were  raised  by 
the  power  of  God.  Elijah  and  Elisha  called  upon  God. 
They  cried  unto  the  Lord  to  do  it.  Now  take  the  three  in 
the  New  Testament  and  see  how  they  were  raised.  When 
Jairus's  daughter  was  raised  He  said,  "  I  say  unto  thee, 
arise."  He  did  not  call  upon  God  at  all.  Then  to  the 
young  man  we  read  of  in  the  7th  chapter  of  Luke  He 
said,  "  I  say  unto  thee  arise."  He  did  not  call  on  God. 
That  proved  that  He  was  God-man.  It  was  with  His  own 
power,  by  His  own  word  that  He  brought  them  to  life.  We 
come  to  the  nth  of  John,  and  here  is  a  man  has  been 
dead  four  days,  and  Christ  cried  not  in  the  name  of  the  God 
of  Elisha  and  Elijah,  not  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  the 
prophets,  but  in  His  own  name,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth," 
and  he  that  was  dead  came  forth.  The  dead  heard  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God  and  came  forth.  It  seems  to  me 
that  ought  to  settle  the  question  of  His  divinity.  We  ought 
not  to  be  in  doubt  about  His  having  power  to  give  life. 
If  He  could  raise  these  dead  bodies  to  life,  can't  He  give 
life  to  these  dead  souls  that  are  coming  to  the  Tabernacle 
every  day  ?  They  are  not  more  hopeless  cases  than  Lazarus, 
v;ho  had  been  dead  four  days  and  whose  body  was  turning 
into  dust.  Christ  spoke  the  word  and  Lazarus  came  forth. 
If  He  speaks  the  word  these  men  that  are  bound  in  sin 
can  be  set  free  ;  they  can  have  life  given  them  and  power 
to  serve  God.  A  few  years  ago,  when  I  first  began  to  attend 
funerals,  a  little  child   died  in   mv   Sundav    School    and  I 


244  ^'^  ''^^^  PEOPLE. 

wanted  to  try  and  preach  a  funeral  sermon.  I  tried  to  see 
how  Christ  would  do  it,  but  I  found  that  He  never  preached 
a  funeral  sermon,  death  never  was  near  Him.  He  to-day 
wants  to  give  life  to  the  dead  Lazaruses  that  are  here,  to 
the  dead  young  men  of  this  city.  There  is  another  proof 
of  His  divinity  in  this  nth  chapter  of  John.  No  one  told 
Him  that  Lazarus  was  dead.  The  messenger  told  Him 
that  Lazarus  was  sick,  and  when  the  messenger  was  gone 
Christ  told  His  disciples  that  Lazarus  was  dead.  He  was 
miles  and  miles  away.  But  Christ  never  raised  more  conva- 
lescents ;  they  always  came  forth  with  the  flush  of  youth  upon 
them.  If  Christ  has  power  to  raise  these  bodies,  hasn't 
He  power  to  raise  our  friends  who  are  dead  in  tres- 
passes ?  Now,  Christ  tried  the  faith  of  those  two  sis- 
ters. He  stayed  there  two  days  after  He  got  the  news 
that  Lazarus  was  sick.  But  when  He  came  He  was 
not  too  late.  Thanks  be  to  God  His  Son  is  never  too 
late!  He  was  in  time  that  His  own  glory  might  shine 
forth  not  only  in  Bethany  but  in  all  Jerusalem.  They  were 
to  have  one  witness  walking  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  con- 
tinually to  testify  to  His  power.  In  the  twenty-seventh 
verse  we  find  Martha's  creed.  She  said  :  "  I  believe  that 
Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  which  should  come  into 
the  world."  That  was  her  creed.  She  did  not  have  any 
doubt  about  His  divinity.  Bear  in  mind  that  it  was  a 
pretty  dark  hour  for  her  to  believe.  Three  days  ago  He 
got  the  message  that  Lazarus  was  sick,  and  He  had  not 
com*.  And  yet  Christ  knew  that  he  was  dead.  A  friend 
of  mine,  Mr.  Leland,  told  me  that  he  went  into  the  Crystal 
Palace  when  he  was  in  London  last  year,  and  he  saw  a 
picture  there  of  Christ  coming  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  He 
was  represented  as  a  mere  skeleton,  just  skin  and  bones. 
There  is  one  more  thought  that  I  went  to  call  your  attention 
to  in  this  chapter,  and  that  is  the  human  side.  There  were 
three  things  they  had  to  do.  They  had  to  guide  him  to 
the    sepulchre.     He    knew,  where    it  was,  for  He  always 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST.    Ill 


245 


knows  where  the  bones  of  His  saints  lie  ;  but  He  gave 
them  the  privilege  to  lead  Him  to  the  sepulchre.  Then 
He  told  them  to  take  away  the  stone.  He  could  have 
taken  it  away  himself,  but  He  gave  the  privilege  to  roll 
away  the  stone  ;  and  that  is  the  work  that  is  to  be  done  in 
Boston  b&^ore  much  good  can  be  done.  There  are  a  good 
many  stones  in  this  city.  There  is  that  terrible  rock  of 
unbelief.  There  is  that  terrible  rock  of  prejudice  that  has 
got  to  be  rolled  away.  Oh,  may  God  sweep  away  this 
miserable  prejudice  and  unbelief.  Help  us,  Lord,  to  roll 
away  the  stones  so  the  dead  may  come  forth.  After  He 
had  raised  Lazarus  there  was  one  thing  more  for  them  to 
do;  they  were  to  loose  him  and  lead  him  out.  There  are 
a  great  many  people  in  Boston  like  Lazarus.  They  are 
out  of  the  sepulchre,  but  they  are  bound  hand  and  foot. 
Christ  has  given  them  life,  but  they  are  not  free.  There 
are  three  things  for  these  men,  and  we  are  not  to  wait  for 
God,  my  friends,  for  He  comes  when  we  ask  Him.  What 
we  want  is  to  do  our  part,  to  obey  Him,  and  He  will  do 
this.  All  those  disciples  and  Jews  that  were  gathered 
around  the  sepulchre  in  Bethany  could  not  give  Lazarus 
life.  They  came  to  that  point,  but  they  could  go  no  further. 
They  could  roll  away  the  stone  and  look  at  the  body,  but 
they  had  not  the  power  to  give  life.  Christ  is  the  giver  of 
life  ;  He  alone  can  give  life.  We  cannot  raise  dead  souls  ; 
that  is  not  our  work;  we  cannot  convert  the  people — that 
is  His  work  ;  but  we  can  preach  the  Gospel  and  do  our 
work  and  look  to  Him  to  do  His  work.  W^hen  everything 
was  ready  the  Son  of  God  came  forward  and  spoke  the 
word,  and  the  dead  came  forth.  Oh,  may  we  have  faith 
to-day  in  the  Son  of  God  ;  may  we  believe  He  is  unchange- 
able— yesterday,  to-day  and  forever  He  is  the  same.  He 
is  the  same  Christ  to-day  as  in  that  village  grave-yard  at 
Bethany.  Let  us  have  faith  and  roll  away  the  stone,  and 
then  let  us  ask  Him  to  speak  the  word  that  the  dead  may 
come  forth.     Let  us  all  bow  our  heads  in  silent  prayer. 


SUDDEN    CONVERSIONS. 


You  hear  considerable  said  nowadays  about  sudden  con- 
versions. There  are  a  great  many  people  that  say  they 
don't  believe  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be  converted  all  at 
once  ;  that  it  is  gradual.  Now  the  Christian  life,  the  growth, 
of  course  that  is  gradual  :  that  may  be  fifty  years,  in  fact  if 
a  man  is  living  as  he  ought  to  he  will  be  growing  all  the 
while,  from  the  time  that  he  was  converted  till  he  goes  to 
his  grave.  But  the  new  birth  must  be  sudden.  Now  I 
want  to  just  call  your  attention  to  a  few  conversions  in  the 
Bible.  In  the  5th  chapter  of  Luke,  27th  verse,  we  find  how 
Levi,  the  publican  was  converted. 

*'  And  after  these  things  he  went  forth,  and  saw  a  publi- 
can, named  Levi,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom  :  and  he 
said  unto  him.  Follow  me." 

That's  all  there  was  to  it.  Just  "  Follow  me."  He  be- 
longed to  the  Custom  House,  you  see.  There  he  was  busy 
at  work,  and  the  Lord  called  on  him  to  follow.  It  does 
not  say  there  was  any  weeping  or  crying  or  praying;  he 
did  just  what  the  Lord  told  him. 

"  And  he  left  all,  rose  up,  and  followed  him." 

There  is  obedience.  But  he  did  more  than  just  follow 
Him  ;  he  went  to  work  for  Him. 

"  And  Levi  made  him  a  great  feast  in  his  own  house  : 
and  there  was  a  great  company  of  publicans  and  others  that 
sat  down  with  them." 

He  got  all  the  tax  collectors  together,  got  together  all 
that  belonged  in  the  Custom  House. 

"  But  their    Scribes  and  Pharisees  murmured  against 

a46 


SC'DDEN  CONVERSlOiXS. 


247 


his  disciples,  saying,  Why  do  ye  eat  and  drink  with  publi- 
cans and  sinners  ? 

"And  Jesus  answering,  said  unto  them,  They  that  aie 
whole  need  not  a  physician  ;  but  they  that  are  sick. 

"  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  re- 
pentance." 

That  is  all  there  is  about  the  conversion  of  Levi  c  r  Mat- 
thew, who  afterwards  wrote  the  life  of  Christ.  Then  it  3  ou 
will  turn  over  into  the  ist  chapter  of  John,  }ou  will  find  how 
the  first  five  disciples  became  Christians.  In  the  ist 
chapter  of  John,  35th  verse  : 

"  Again  the  next  day  after  John  stood,  and  two  of  his 
disciples ; 

"And  looking  upon  Jesus  as  he  walked,  he  saith.  Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God !  " 

Behold  —  that  is,  look  at  Him.  Behold  Him,  see  Him, 
the  Lamb  of  God.  Just  look  at  Him,  behold  Him,  see 
Him,  the  Lamb  of  God. 

"  And  the  two  disciples  heard  him  speak,  and  they  fol- 
lowed Jesus. 

"  Then  Jesus  turned,  and  saw  them  following,  and  saith 
unto  them,  What  seek  ye .?  They  said  unto  him.  Rabbi, 
(which  is  to  say,  being  interpreted,  Master,)  where  dwellest 
thou  ? 

"  He  saith  unto  them,  Come  and  see." 

"  Come  and  see."  That  was  all  there  was  to  it.  Very 
simple.  A  pretty  short  sermon,  wasn't  it  ?  But  it  was  long 
enough  for  these  two  disciples  though. 

"  They  came  and  saw  where  he  dwelt,  and  abode  with 
him  that  day:  for  it  was  about  the  tenth  hour." 

Or  about  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

"One  of  the  two  which  heard  John  speak,  and  followed 
him,  was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother." 

That  is  a  pretty  good  sign,  if  a  man  goes  after  his  broth- 
er. I  do  not  believe  a  man  is  converted  unless  he  has 
the  desire  to  bring  some  one  else  to  Christ.     If  he  has  not 


248  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

the  desire  to  win  some  one  else,  then  it  is  a  good  sign  he  is 
not  converted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  might  be  con- 
verted  to  a  creed  or  a  denomination,  but  he  has  not  been 
converted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Clirist ;  if  he  had  he  would 
want  to  bring  some  one  else  in  contact  with  Him. 

"  He  first  findeth  his  own  brother  Simon,  and  saitb  unto 
him.  We  have  found  the  Messiah,  which  is,  being  interpret- 
ed, the  Christ. 

"  And  he  brought  him  to  Jesus.  And  when  Jesus  beheld 
him,  he  said.  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona:  thou  shalt 
be  called  Cephas,  which  is,  by  interpretation,  A  stone." 

"  The  day  following  Jesus  would  go  forth  into  Galilee, 
and  findeth  Philip,  and  saith  unto  him.  Follow  me." 

See  how  simple,  "  Follow  me  "  —  two  words ;  and  if  there 
is  a  man  to-day  out  of  Christ,  if  he  will  take  these  two 
words  they  are  enough.     Just  follow  Him. 

"  Now  Philip  was  of  Bethsaida,  the  city  of  Andrew  and 
Peter. 

"  Philip  findeth  Nathaniel,  and  saith  unto  him,  We  have 
found  him,  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets,  did 
write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph.  And  Nathan- 
iel said  unto  him,  Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out  of 
Nazareth  1 " 

Nathaniel  was  like  a  good  many  people  in  Boston. 
They  want  to  discuss  this  matter.  "I  would  like  to  know 
how  that  can  be,  a  Messiah  coming  from  Nazareth,"  He 
was  so  full  of  prejudice  that  he  could  not  believe  it.  But 
Philip  had  a  good  deal  of  tact  in  winning  Nathaniel ;  he 
was  a  wise  winner  of  souls.  If  he  had  been  like  a  good 
many  of  us  he  would  have  tried  to  prove  that  some  good 
thing  could  come  out  of  Nazareth,  but  he  said,  "  You  come 
and  see."  He  knew  that  if  he  had  one  interview  with 
Christ  all  his  doubts  would  be  gone. 

"  Philip  saith  unto  him.  Come  and  see." 

He  took  up  the  same  words  Christ  had  said  to  Andrew 
and  John. 


SUDDEN  CONVERSIONS.  249 

"  Jesus  saw  Nathaniel  coming  to  him,  and  saith  of  him, 
Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile  ! 

"  Nathaniel  saith  unto  Him,  Whence  knowestthou  me? 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Before  that  Philip  called 
thee,  when  thou  wast  under  the  fig  tree,  I  saw  thee. 

"  Nathaniel  answered  and  saith  unto  him.  Rabbi,  thou 
art  the  Son  of  God  ;  thou  art  the  King  of  Israel. 

"Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Because  I  said 
unto  ihee,  I  saw  thee  under  the  fig-tree,  believest  thou  ? 
thou  shalt  see  greater  things  than  these. 

"  And  he  saith  unto  him,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
Hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of  God 
ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man." 

Then  if  you  will  turn  to  the  3d  chapter  of  John,  in 
that  wonderful  interview  Christ  had  with  Nicodemus,  you 
will  see  how  he  was  converted.  Christ  just  told  him  the 
way  and  he  believed  it.  It  does  not  say  there  was  any 
praying  or  weeping,  but  He  laid  out  the  plan  of  salva- 
tion and  Nicodemus  believed  it.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
difficult  cases  that  Christ  ever  had.  He  was  what  we  would 
call  now  an  unconverted  church  member,  and  those  are 
the  hardest  kind  to  reach.  He  thought  he  was  all  right 
because  he  belonged  to  the  council,  and  he  was  in  the 
highest  ecclesiastical  body  there  was,  but  yet  Christ  just 
told  him  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved,  and  the  next  thing 
we  hear  he  is  standing  up  in  that  council  chamber  for  the 
Son  of  God.  You  men  that  are  standing  up  for  God,  if 
you  want  clear  evidence  to  burn  all  your  bridges  behind 
you,  come  out  and  confess  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  let  your 
friends  and  your  enemies  know  you  are  on  the  J,ord's  side. 
Until  you  do  that  you  are  on  the  devil's  territory,  and  no 
one  ever  gets  any  light  or  good  there.  Confess  Him.  It 
is  "  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness,  and 
with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation."  Sup- 
pose this  body  of  men  represented  two  political  parties,  as 
Republican   and  Democratic,  and  suppose   I  have  been   a 


2 CO  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Democrat  up  to  the  present  day  and  there  is  going  to  be 
an  important  election  to-morrow,  and  I  am  thoroughly  con- 
vinced that  the  party  I  belong  to  is  wrong,  and  if  it  suc- 
ceeds it  will  be  the  ruin  of  the  country,  and  I  am  going 
over  on  the  other  side.  Do  I  keep  still  about  it?  I  want 
to  influence  every  vote  I  can,  and  get  them  into  the  new 
party,  new  to  me  because  I  have  just  joined  it.  If  you  are 
on  the  wrong  side  come  over  boldly  and  bring  every  man 
you  can  with  you.  If  a  man  is  converted,  he  ought  to  be 
good  for  at  least  a  dozen  other  souls.  If  we  have  a  de- 
sire to  bring  our  friends  along  with  us,  we  will  see  them 
coming,  there  is  no  doubt  about  that.  Turn  to  the  4th 
chapter  of  John,  and  you  will  find  there  another  convert 
and  altogether  different  from  Nicodemus.  A  good  many 
people  say  that  Nicodemus  did  not  need  to  be  converted  : 
he  was  a  sort  of  respectable  sinner.  But  in  the  4th  chap- 
ter of  John  you  will  find  a  poor,  black  harlot,  a  Samaritan 
woman  and  an  adulteress.  Yet  Christ  met  her  at  that  well. 
She  came  for  a  pot  of  water  and  she  got  a  whole  well.  She 
took  the  whole  gift.  She  said,  "  Lord,  give  me  this  water 
that  I  come  not  here  to  draw,"  and  the  well  of  water  began 
to  bubble  up  in  her  soul.  But  I  caa  imagine  some  of  you 
say,  if  Christ  was  here  in  person  and  could  preach  the  word 
of  life  to  us,  we  would  know  we  were  converted  and 
know  when  we  pass  from  death  to  life  ;  but  if  you  will  turn 
to  the  2d  chapter  of  Acts  you  will  find  a  conversion  just  as 
sudden,  and  more  sudden  than  any  that  occurred  before 
Christ  went  to  heaven.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  3000 
were  converted  under  one  sermon,  and  added  to  the  Church 
of  God  in  one  day.  Then  turn  to  the  8th  chapter  of  Acts, 
and  you  find  Philip  going  to  Samaria  to  preach,  and  while 
there  was  a  great  revival  there  God  sent  him  to  the  desert 
to  speak  to  that  Ethiopian.  He  preached  Christ  to  him  in 
the  53d  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  he  was  convicted,  converted 
and  baptized  in  an  hour.     I  might  talk  about  the  Phillip- 


S-UDDEiV  CONVERSIONS. 


251 


pian  jailer.  All  the  conversions  of  the  Bible  are  sudden. 
I  wish  men  would  give  up  their  ideas  of  how  they  ought  to 
be  converted  and  see  liow  they  used  to  be  converted  in  the 
days  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  and  remember  that  God 
is  just  the  same  now,  and  men  can  be  converted  if  they 
seek  God  with  all  their  hearts.  I  made  a  man  astonished 
a  while  ago  by  telling  him  I  knew  when  he  was  going  to  be 
converted.  I  said,  "  I  am  not  a  prophet,  but  I  can  tell 
the  day  and  the  hour  when  you  will  be  converted."  He 
said,  "  Is  that  so.?  I  would  like  to  have  you  tell  me."  I 
answered,  "  It  is  when  you  search  for  God  with  all  your  heart ; 
that  is  the  day  and  the  hour."  Let  a  man  search  for  God 
with  his  heart  and  he  will  find  Him.  If  a  man  will  go 
about  his  soul's  salvation  as  he  does  about  his  business,  he 
will  soon  find  life  and  liberty  and  peace.  It  is  with  the 
heart  that  man  searches  for  God,  not  with  the  head.  A 
great  many  Bostonians  are  trying  to  find  God  with  the  head, 
but  no  man  ever  did  that ;  it  cannot  be  done.  Mr.  Spur- 
geon  says  :  "  Men  do  not  need  new  heads,  but  new  hearts.' 
So  it  is  not  with  the  head  man  searches  out  God  but  with 
the  heart.  Now,  to-day,  I  just  want  to  give  this  as  the  key- 
note of  the  meeting.  In  the  loth  chapter  of  Romans  we 
read  :  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness,  and 
with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation."  The 
two  go  together.  I  believe  there  is  a  sort  of  pit  in  that 
verse,  and  a  good  many  have  tumbled  into  it  in  Boston. 
They  believe  with  the  heart,  but  are  not  willing  to  confess 
with  the  mouth.  They  are  afraid  of  their  old  associates, 
they  are  afraid  of  ridicule,  afraid  perhaps  that  their  name 
will  get  into  the  newspapers.  They  are  there,  in  that  pir. 
If  you  want  true  life  and  true  peace  and  true  liberty,  not 
only  believe  with  the  heart,  but  confess,  for  "  with  the  mouth 
confes:iion  is  made  unto  salvation." 


MR.  MOODY'S  PRAYER  FOR  INFIDELS  AND 
SCOFFERS. 


Our  Heavenly  Father,  we  thank  Thee  that  we  are 
able  to  come  again  into  this  place  of  worship.  We 
thank  Thee  for  the  privilege  we  have  of  breaking  the 
bread  of  life  to  this  multitude,  and  now  we  pray  that 
Thou  wilt  save  many  here  to-night.  We  pray  Thee 
that  the  power  of  God  may  be  felt  within  this  meet- 
ing as  it  has  never  been  felt  within  these  walls  before. 
Lord,  make  bare  Thy  arm  to-night.  May  deaf  ears 
be  unstopped  to-night,  may  blind  eyes  be  opened,  may 
the  hard  hearts  be  softened  to-night  by  the  Son  of  God. 
May  there  be  many  to-night  who  are  full  of  bitterness, 
many  who  are  full  of  blindness,  and  many  who  are  full 
of  prejudice  may  have  their  hearts  melted.  We  pray 
for  those  who  have  come  in  out  of  curiosity.  O  God, 
meet  them  and  show  them  the  love  of  Thy  Son,  and 
may  they  come  and  confess  their  sins  and  believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  pray  Thee  for  those  who  have 
come  here  to  make  light  of  this  service,  and  to  laugh  and 
ridicule  everything  here.  May  their  laughing  be  turned  to 
mourning,  and  may  their  joking  be  turned  to  grieving,  and 
may  their  hardness  of  heart  be  conquered.  O  God  of 
Pentecost,  breathe  upon  us  a  breath  from  that  upper 
world.  O  God,  may  infidels  and  scoffers  and  jesters 
be  reached  to-night  by  the  mighty  power  of  Thy  Spirit. 
W^e  ask  for  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  know  that 
human  power  cannot  reach  them,  that  the  heart  of  man  is 
too  hard  to  be  reached  by  men,  but  may  the  Spirit  of  God 
reach  them.  And  while  Thy  servant  is  singing,  and  while 
Thy  servant  is  praying,  may  there  be  no  spirit  of  criticism 
here  to-night.  May  there  be  one  wave  of  prayer  going  up 
to  the  throne  of  God  this  evening  from  the  Christian  men 
and  women  here,  and  may  tiiere  be  many  who  shall  trem- 
ble for  fear  of  the  judgment,  and  be  saved.  And  Thy 
name  shall  have  all  the  praise.  Amen. 
252 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB. 


We  have  for  our  subject,  to-day,  "Jacob."  There  was 
a  time  when  I  used  to  be  troubled,  and  a  good  deal,  about 
the  Bible  characters.  I  used  to  think  that  because  they 
were  Bible  saints,  everything  they  did  was  right,  and  I 
could  not  understand  just  how  it  was  that  God  would  per- 
mit them  to  do  such  things,  and  that  they  would  not  be 
punished.  Jacob  was  one  of  those  characters  I  used  to 
stumble  over  but,  since  I  have  got  a  little  better  acquaint- 
ed with  my  Bible,  I  find  that  these  characters  are  giv- 
en to  us  as  examples  to  warn  us  ;  and  if  they  were  all 
like  Joseph  and  Joshua,  and  like  Daniel  and  Jeremiah  and 
John  the  Baptist,  and  a  few  of  those  characters  that  never 
turned  aside  to  the  right  or  the  left,  that  never  tripped  and 
fell,  that  never  deviated  a  hair's-breadth,  I  think  it  would 
discourage  a  good  many  of  us  ;  but  when  we  come  to  a 
character  like  Jacob  and  we  find  that  God  had  grace 
enough  to  save  him,  I  think  there  is  hope  for  almost  any  of 
us ;  for  by  nature  he  was  about  as  hard  a  character  as  you 
often  find.  By  nature  he  was  very  treacherous  and  deceitful. 
Jacob  means  a  "  supplanter  ;  a  deceiver."  He  started  wrong. 
He  started  in  altogether  a  different  way  from  what  Daniel 
did  in  Babylon.  When  he  got  down  into  Babylon,  he  pur- 
posed in  his  heart  that  he  would  not  deviate  from  his  God. 
He,  Jacob,  started  with  a  lie  in  his  mouth.  I  don't  know 
as  the  ladies  would  like  to  hear  me  say  it ;  but  I  think  his 
mother  was  about  as  bad  as  he  was,  and  as  much  to  blame 
as  he,  because  she  put  him  up  to  it  to  tell  a  lie  to  his 
father,  and  he  started  wrong.     The  object  in   taking  up  a 

«*3 


254  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

character  like  this  is  not  to  be  looking  at  the  failures  of 
Jacob  and  forgetting  our^wn;  for  although  he  was  a 
grandson  of  Abraham,  he  is  at  any  rate  brother  to  most  of 
us.  You  will  find  that  there  are  more  Jacobs  in  the  Church 
of  God  to-day  than  there  are  Abrahams.  Wherever  you 
go,  in  all  society  you  will  find  this  man's  character  brought 
out  in  a  great  many  men.  Now  he  could  trust  God  just 
about  as  far  as  he  was  able  to  see,  and  no  farther.  He 
was  one  of  those  men  who  are  willing  to  trust  God  if  he 
could  only  see  where  he  was  coming  out ;  unlike  Joshua, 
Daniel  and  Joseph,  his  own  son,  who  were  willing  to 
trust  in  God  without  doubting  where  they  were  to  come 
out.  I  think  it  would  be  a  wonderful  blessing  to  us  if  we 
would  draw  a  contrast  between  Joseph  and  Jacob.  Joseph 
could  trust  God  in  the  dark  if  he  couldn't  see  how  it  was 
coming  out.  He  was  willing  to  walk  with  God  anywhere 
and  believe  that  God  was  going  to  bring  him  out  right ; 
but  Jacob  wanted  to  see  how  it  was  coming  out  and  was 
all  the  time  making  bargains  with  the  Lord.  Now,  Rebekah 
made  this  plan  to  help  Jacob  at  home.  It  was  the  old 
story  over  again  at  home.  Esau  was  Isaac's  favorite,  and 
Jacob  was  Rebekah's  favorite  ;  and  when  there  is  favorit- 
ism in  the  old  homestead  there  is  always  controversy.  I 
never  knew  it  to  fail,  and  both  the  parents  were  to  blame. 
One  loved  this  son  and  the  other  that  one ;  and  when 
Rebekah  commenced  to  plan  to  keep  her  boy  at  home, 
instead  of  letting  God  work  out  His  own  plan,  she  took  it 
out  of  the  hands  of  God  and  she  just  defeated  the  very 
object  she  wanted  to  bring  about,  for  Jacob  left  home,  ana 
she  never  set  eyes  upon  him  again.  He  was  driven  away 
by  Esau.  She  had  to  send  him  away.  Esau  had  threat- 
ened to  kill  him,  and  she  was  afraid  that  the  very  same 
thing  would  occur  to  him  as  to  Abel  when  Cain  rose  up 
and  slew  his  brother.  Esau  was  going  to  slay  Jacob,  and 
he  had  to  flee.     Let  us  just  see  him  as  he  starts  away  from 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.  255 

home.  In  the  27th  chapter  of  Genesis,  46th  verse,  we  find 
what  it  says  about  Rebekah.  "  And  Rebekah  said  to  Isaac, 
I  am  weary  of  my  life  because  of  the  daughters  of  Heth  : 
if  Jacob  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Heth,  such  as  these 
which  are  of  the  daughters  of  the  land,  what  good  shall  my 
life  do  me  ?  "  Her  life  began  to  be  a  burden  to  her.  Now, 
she  wanted  Isaac  to  bless  Jacob  and  send  him  off,  in  order 
to  save  his  life,  for  she  knew  that  Esau  was  planning  to 
slay  his  brother.  So  Jacob  went  away  without  confessing 
that  sin.  We  are  not  told  that  he  ever  went  to  Isaac,  his  fa- 
ther, and  asked  him  to  forgive  him  for  that  lie.  He  starts 
wrong,  and  the  God  of  all  Grace  beats  him.  In  the  28th 
chapter  of  Genesis,  beginning  with  the  loth  verse,  it  says : 

"  And  Jacob  went  out  from  Beersheba,  and  went  toward 
Haran. 

"  And  he  lighted  upon  a  certain  place,  and  tarried  there 
all  night,  because  the  sun  was  set ;  and  he  took  of  the  stones 
of  that  place,  and  put  them  for  his  pillows,  and  lay  down 
in  that  place  to  sleep. 

"And  he  dreamed,  and  behold  a  ladder  set  up  on  the 
earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven  :  and  behold  the 
angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  on  it. 

"  And  behold,  the  Lord  stood  above  it  and  said  :  " 

Now  mark  what  He  says.  I  wish  you  would  just  pay 
attention.  If  you  have  got  your  Bibles  with  you  I  wish  you 
would  read  that  13th  verse  with  me.  "  I  am  the  Lord  God 
of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac :  the  land 
whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed." 

That  was  a  pretty  direct  title,  wasn't  it,  just  straight  from 
the  throne  ?  God  says,  "  I  will  give  it  to  you."  That  is 
sovereign  grace.     God  is  now  dealing  in  gracehood. 

"  And  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and 
thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and 
to  the  north,  and  to  the  south,  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  And  behold,  I  am 
with   thee,  and  will  keep  thee   in   all  places  whither  thou 


256  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land ;  for  I  will 
not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken 
to  thee  of."  Now,  see  how  plain  that  is.  There  are  a  great 
many  of  God's  promises  that  are  conditional.  "  If  you  do  so," 
God  sa\  s,  "  I  will  do  so  and  so."  Then  there  are  others  that  are 
without  condition.  Now,  here  is  God  just  shouting  down  from 
the  top  of  that  ladder  what  he  would  do  ;  but  there  is  no  con- 
dition about  it.  If  Jacob  did  this  or  that  thing,  God  did 
not  promise  that  He  would  do  as  Jacob  wished  ;  but  He 
said,  "  I  will  do  this  :  I  will  give  thee  the  land  whereon 
thou  liest  and  to  thy  seed."  Undoubtedly  Jacob  had  been 
told  a  good  deal  about  the  God  of  Abraham.  His  grand- 
father, probably,  when  he  was  a  little  boy,  had  him  on  his 
knee  many  a  time,  and  told  him  how  God  appeared  to  him, 
how  God  talked  to  him  and  how  he  called  him  out  of  his 
native  land  and  out  of  Haran  ;  God  was  really  no  stranger 
to  him.  He  had  heard  about  him.  Now,  he  says,  "Surely 
the  Lord  is  in  this  place  ;  and  I  knew  it  not."  And  he 
was  afraid,  and  said.  How  dreadful  is  this  place  !  This  is 
none  other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of 
heaven.  "  And  Jacob  rose  up  early  in  the  morning, 
and  took  the  stone  that  he  had  put  for  his  pillows,  and 
set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it. 
And  he  called  the  name  of  that  place  Beth-el  :  but  the 
name  of  that  city  was  called  Luz  at  the  first.  And  Jacob 
vowed  a  vow,  saying,  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and  wiU 
keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and  will  give  me  bread 
to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  I  come  again  to 
my  father's  house  in  peace ;  then  shall  the  Lord  be  my 
God."  Now,  that  is  what  I  want  to  call  your  attention 
to.  After  God  had  told  him  that  He  would  give  him 
all  that  land  and  be  with  him  and  make  him  a  blessing  to 
all  the  world,  Jacob  gets  up  and  says :  "  If  thou  wilt  be 
with  me  ;"  now,  if  you  will  allow  me  the  expression,  that 
is  one  of  the  devil's  "  ifs."     What  right  had  he  to  say  (if 


THL  L.FE  ANL  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.         257 

God  said  He  would  do  it),  "  If  God  wilt  be  with  me,  and 
will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and  will  give  me  bread 
to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  I  come  again  to  my 
father's  house  in  peace  ;  then  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God." 
That's  a  bargain.  You  see  he  wanted  to  make  a  bargain 
with  the  Lord.  Jacob,  all  the  time  trying  to  make  a  bar- 
gain after  God  had  shouted  down  from  the  top  of  that 
ladder  how  He  would  bless  him  and  give  him  that  land, 
he  gets  up  and  tries  to  bargain  with  the  Lord  for  bread 
and  raiment  and  to  get  back  to  his  father's  house.  What 
a  low  idea  he  had  of  God  !  When  the  God  of  all  grace 
wanted  to  give  him  everything,  he  gets  up  with  that  "{/!'' 
Instead  of  getting  up  and  praising  and  magnifying  God  for 
what  He  offered  him,  he  gets  up  with  that  low  idea  of 
Him — "  If  He  will  just  give  me  enough  to  eat  and  to  wear, 
then  He  will  be  my  God."  And  so  he  starts  off  down  to 
Haran,  and  we  find  him  down  there  driving  sharp  bargains 
with  Laban,  and  he  got  cheated  every  time.  His  uncle 
Laban  had  not  been  to  Beth-el,  and  his  conscience  troubled 
him  about  what  was  right.  Now,  if  a  man  had  been  up  to 
Beth-el,  as  Jacob  had,  and  got  the  promise  of  the  God  ot 
Grace  that  Jacob  got,  what  did  he  want  to  be  off  in  the 
world,  after  he  got  His  promise,  driving  sharp  bargains  for  ? 
If  he  had  the  promise  of  God  in  all  the  fulness  of  God, 
that  is  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  Christ,  through 
the  God-head,  why,  he  could  afford  to  lead  a  different  life 
from  Laban  his  uncle;  but,  instead  of  that,  we  find  him 
down  there  just  using  all  manner  of  deception.  I  think 
more  of  his  uncle  than  I  do  of  him.  His  uncle  was  more 
honorable  than  he.  Even  after  he  got  down  there  he  had 
to  work  seven  years  for  his  wife,  and  then  hj  had  to  get 
another  woman.  He  got  paid  back  in  his  own  coin.  I 
was  trying  to  tell  you  last  night  that  "  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  reap."  He  went  and  lied  to  his 
father  ;  told  him   a  downright  lie ;  and  now  when  he  gets 

17 


258  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

clown  into  Haran  he  gets  paid  back  in  his  own  coin.  He 
had  to  work  seven  years  longer  to  get  Rachel,  the  wife  he 
wanted.  His  wages  were  changed  ten  different  times. 
After  he  had  been  there  twenty  years,  we  don't  hear  that 
he  had  any  altar  or  ever  called  upon  the  God  of  Beth-el 
while  he  was  there.  We  don't  hear  anything  about  the 
vow  he  made  that  the  Lord  should  be  his  God  ;  but 
there  he  is  driving  sharp  bargains,  trying  to  get  rich, 
and  living  like  the  men  of  Haran  ;  but,  at  the  end  of 
twenty  years,  the  Lord  came  again,  for  God  is  going  to 
keep  His  promises — fulfil  all  His  promises.  If  He  says 
He  will  do  anything,  He  will  do  it.  Now,  then,  we  find 
in  the  31st  chapter  of  Genesis  and  the  13th  verse,  that 
God  came  and  sa'd,  "  I  am  the  God  of  Beth-el,  where 
thou  anointedst  the  pillar,  and  where  thou  vowedst  a 
vow  unto  me  ;  now  arise,  get  thee  out  of  this  land,  and 
return  unto  the  land  of  thy  kindred."  Now  instead  of 
Jacob  going  out  like  a  man,  walking  out  like  a  prince  who 
had  got  his  word  from  God  that  he  had  a  promis-i  of  and 
a  title  to  all  that  land  ;  instead  of  going  out  like  a  man,  he 
just  watched  his  chance  and  stole  away  like  a  thief.  We 
find  that  his  father-in-law  came  after  him,  and  if  God  had 
not  appeared  to  him  I  don't  know  but  what  he  would  have 
taken  the  life  of  Jacob,  he  was  so  full  of  rage.  He  stole 
away  like  a  thief.  If  he  had  said  that  he  was  ordered  by 
God,  he  could  have  told  that  father-in-law  how  that  the 
God  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac  had  commanded  him,  how 
his  (xod  had  called  him  out,  and  he  mi^rht  have  gone  like 
a  man.  But  instead  of  that  he  stole  away  like  a  coward. 
He  was  all  the  time  plauxung.  He  couldn't  let  God  plan 
for  him  ;  he  couldn't  trust  God  ;  but  God  again  shielded 
him.  After  he  had  settled  the  trouble  with  his  father-in- 
law,  the  angels  met  him,  and  he  says,  "  This  is  God's  host 
that  have  come  to  conduct  me  back  into  the  land."  But 
it  wasn't  long  before  it  came  to  his   ears   that  Esau  was 


THE  LIFE  AIVD  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.  259 

coming  out  against  him,  and  he  was  filled  with  trouble. 
And  now  h^e  couldn't  trust  God.  God  says,  "  I  will  take 
care  of  you  ;"  but  he  couldn't  believe,  because  he  couldn't 
see  how  he  was  coming  out.  He  wanted  to  see  how  he 
was  coming  out.  When  he  heard  that  Esau  was  coming 
out  against  him  he  began  to  plan  again.  He  divided  his 
herds  and  kept  back  in  the  rear  to  save  himself.  How 
mean  !  how  cowardly !  And  when  his  herds  had  passed 
over  then  we  find  that  he  was  just  left  alone  with  God,  and 
there  he  wrestles  with  God.  In  the  32d  chapter  of  Genesis, 
the  24th  verse,  we  find  these  words  :  ''  x^nd  Jacob  was  left 
alone,  and  there  wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the  breaking 
of  the  day."  We  hear  that  quoted  a  good  deal.  We  hear  about 
the  "  Wrestling  Jacob,"  but  we  forget  that  there  was  another 
man  wrestling  with  him,  that  God  was  wrestling  with  him, 
and  not  he  with  God.  The  wrestling  was  on  the  other 
side.  That  is,  God  wrestled  with  him.  Some  people  have 
an  idea  that  he  wrestled  and  toiled  hard  to  get  a  blessing. 
That  is  not  so.  Jacob  was  not  willing  to  receive  the  bless- 
ing, and  therefore  God  troubled  him.  It  was  the  God  of 
Israel,  the  God  of  Abraham.  It  was  not  that  He  did  not 
want  to  bless  him,  for  He  came  for  that  very  purpose. 
"And  Jacob  was  left  alone,  and  wrestled  with  a  man  until 
the  breaking  of  the  day.  And  when  he  saw  that  he  pre- 
vailed not  against  him,  he  touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh ; 
and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  was  out  of  joint,  as  he 
wrestled  with  him.  And  he  said.  Let  me  go,  for  the  day 
breaketh.  And  he  said,  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou 
bless  me.  And  he  said  unto  him,  What  is  thy  name  ? 
And  he  said,  Jacob.  And  he  said.  Thy  name  shall  be 
called  no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel  :  for  as  a  prince  hast 
thou  power  wilh  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed. 
And  Jacob  asked  him,  and  said,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy 
name.  And  he  said,  Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask 
after   my  name  ?     And  he  blessed  him  there.     And  Jacob 


26o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

called  the  name  of  the  place  Peniel :  for  I  have  seen  God 
face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved."  Now  people  say, 
but  he  did  prevail,  and  he  did  prevail  wlxen  he  wrestled.  I 
don't  think  he  wrestled  much  with  his  thigh  out  of  joint. 
A  man  with  his  little  finger  could  have  overthrown  him 
then.  His  power  and  strength  were  gone,  but  when  he 
was  weak  he  prevailed  with  God.  He  got  at  the  end  of 
himself;  when  he  got  through  he  got  at  the  end  of  his 
strength  and  all  he  did  was  to  hold  on  to  God  and  cry  for 
the  blessing,  and  then  he  got  it.  When  we  are  weak,  then 
we  are  strong.  Then  we  have  power  with  God.  When  we 
are  at  the  end  of  the  energy  of  the  flesh,  that  brings  us 
blessings.  When  we  are  at  the  end  of  the  flesh  and  hold 
on  to  God,  we  have  power  with  God,  and  as  a  prince  has 
power  with  his  king,  so  we  have  power  with  the  King 
of  heaven.  The  Lord  blessed  him  ;  but,  as  I  have  said 
before,  it  was  when  he  was  weak,  when  his  strength  was 
gone.  Now,  we  turn  over  into  the  35th  chapter  and  we 
find  him  again,  instead  of  going  to  Beth-el,  going  down  to 
Shechem,  and  when  he  was  there  he  built  an  altar  and 
put  his  own  name  on  it,  El-eloheTsrael,  but  I  don't  think 
that  God  met  him  there.  "  El-elohe-Israel."  High  sound- 
ing title,  wasn't  it .''  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  now. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  our  attaching  our  names  to  the 
Lord's  work.  My  church,  My  prayer-meeting.  My  Sunday 
school.  My  Bible-class,  My  this  or  Afy  that,  instead  of  just 
shutting  ourselves  out  of  sight,  and  giving  God  all  the 
glory  ;  but  the  Lord  never  met  him  there  at  El-elohe-Israel. 
He  fell  into  sin,  his  family  came  into  disgrace,  and  at  last 
the  God  of  Beth-el  came  again  and  said,  "  Arise,  go  up  to 
Beth-el,  and  dwell  there  :  and  make  there  an  altar  unto 
God,  that  appeared  unto  thee  when  thou  fleddest  from  the 
face  of  Esau  thy  brother.  Then  Jacob  said  unto  his 
household,  and  unto  all  that  were  with  him,  Put  away  the 
strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  be  clean,  and  change 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.         261 

your  garments."  See  that!  He  got  an  altar  down  there, 
but  they  had  got  strange  garments.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  that  kind  of  worship  nowadays.  There  are  a  good 
many  men  in  Boston  who  have  got  to  ride  two  horses,  as 
you  might  say.  They  pretend  to  worship  the  God  of 
heaven,  but  they  worship  the  god  of  this  world.  It  is 
God  and  Mammon.  They  are  trying  to  worship  both. 
You  can't  do  it.  Jacob  had  no  communion  with  God  down 
there.  When  God  came  down,  what  did  He  find?  Why, 
He  found  that  Jacob  had  these  strange  gods,  and  he  says, 
"  Go  up  to  Beth-el  and  dwell  there,  and  make  an  altar  unto 
God."  God  couldn't  bless  him  down  there  with  all  those 
strange  gods.  When  he  got  separated  from  his  idols,  then 
he  would  have  power  with  God.  "Let  us  rise,"  said  Jacob, 
"  and  go  up  to  Betii-el ;  and  I  will  make  there  an  altar  unto 
God,  who  answered  me  in  the  day  of  my  distress,  and  w^as 
with  me  in  the  way  which  I  went."  Now,  let  your  minds 
go  back,  my  friends,  you  that  have  wandered  away  from 
the  God  of  Jacob,  to  the  time  when  you  had  reason  to 
believe  that  you  were  saved  ;  how  when  you  trusted  Him 
He  was  true  to  you,  and  when  the  Lord  met  you  in  the 
hour  of  distress,  when  you  were  burdened  with  your  sins, 
and  you  promised  God  if  He  would  take  away  your  burden 
you  would  love  Him.  Oh,  my  friends,  you  have  been  untrue 
to  Him.  Many  of  us  have  wandered  and  gone  astray.  Let 
us  arise,  and  go  up  to  Beth-el,  and  get  back  to  the  House 
of  God,  where  He  can  bless  us.  "  And  they  gave  unto 
Jacob  all  the  strange  gods  which  were  in  their  hand,  and 
all  their  earrings  which  were  in  their  ears;  and  Jacob  hid 
them  under  the  oak  which  was  by  Shechem."  He  ought 
to  have  burnt  them,  smashed  them  all  to  pieces,  but  he  hid 
them  ;  but  it  is  a  good  thing  when  we  get  rid  of  idols.  I 
believe  that  we  have  as  many  idols  to-day  as  they  had  then. 
I  wish  that  we  could  have  a  grave  built  so  deep  in  Boston 
that  we  could  bury  all  the  idols  of  Boston  in  it,  and  then 
136 


262  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

you  would  see  how  quick  God  would  bless  us.  We  make 
an  idol  of  our  friends,  perhaps,  of  our  reputation  and  stand- 
ing, of  money,  of  pleasure,  and  we  have  a  great  many  idols 
that  get  into  our  hearts  and  the  God  of  heaven  is  not  there, 
and  cannot  bless  us  on  account  of  these  idols.  But  just 
see  what  took  place  when  they  buried  their  idols.  "  And 
they  journeyed :  and  the  terror  of  God  was  upon  the  cities 
that  were  round  about  them,  and  they  did  not  pursue  after 
the  sons  of  Jacob."  So  that  the  terror  of  the  Lord  fell 
upon  the  nations  round  about  them.  Jacob  had  power 
over  them,  because  he  was  right  with  God,  because  he  had 
put  away  his  strange  idols,  "  and  the  terror  of  the  earth 
fell  upon  the  nations  round  about  them."  "  So  Jacob 
came  to  Luz,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  that  is, 
Beth-el,  he  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him.  And  he 
built  there  an  altar,  and  called  the  place  El-bethel."  He 
didn't  put  his  name  on  it  at  all.  He  called  it  El-beth-el. 
"  Because  there  God  appeared  unto  him,  when  he  fled  from 
the  face  of  his  brother."  Now,  we  find  right  here  in  the 
13th  verse,  "  And  God  went  up  from  him  in  the  place 
where  he  talked  with  him."  And  in  the  i6th  verse  of  that 
same  chapter  we  find  that  Jacob  journeyed  from  Beth-el ; 
he  left  it,  he  wouldn't  stay  here^  and  when  they  were  a 
little  way  off  Rachel  died  ;  affliction  came  upon  him  be- 
cause he  would  not  obey  God.  God  couldn't  keep  him,  or 
at  least  he  would  not  stay.  God  had  called  him  there  to 
bless  him.  The  next  thing  we  hear  not  only  was  Rachel 
dead,  but  he  sends  Joseph  alone  down  to  see  how  the 
boys,  who  are  looking  after  the  sheep,  are  getting 
along,  but  they  had  gone  down  to  Shechem.  I  don't 
know  but  what  they  had  gone  down  to  dig  up  those 
idols.  ,  They  knew  they  were  hid  there  under  the  oak  ; 
Joseph  did  not  find  them  there  ;  and  we  find,  my  friends, 
that  Jacob  now  has  got  into  trouble  again.  The  boys 
came  back  with  a  lie  on  their  lips.    You  lie  to  your  parents, 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.         263 

and  your  children  will  lie  to  you.  Here  it  was  twenty  or 
thirty  years  after  Jacob  had  lied  to  his  own  father  that  his 
own  sons  came  back  and  lied  to  him  about  his  favorite 
son,  the  idol  of  his  heart,  the  one  that  he  loved  the  best. 
He  fell  into  the  same  sin  that  Rebekah  and  Isaac  fell  into  ; 
he  loved  Joseph  and  Benjamin  more  than  the  rest  of  his 
sons,  and  that  brought  jealousy  into  the  home  and  the 
famih^,  and  it  wasn't  long  before  the  hres  of  jealousy  kin- 
dled and  they  began  to  plan  how  to  put  this  favorite  son 
out  of  the  way.  They  wanted  to  murder  him.  They  had 
murder  in  their  hearts.  They  would  have  killed  and  slain 
him  if  God  had  not  overruled  it  ;  but  they  cast  him  into  a 
pit,  as  you  all  know,  and  then  it  was  so  ordered  by  God 
that  he  should  be  brought  up  out  of  it  and  sold  into  slavery 
and  sent  into  Egypt.  And  the  old  man  mourned  for  that 
boy  twenty  long  years.  It  was  a  good  deal  more  than  he 
had  sown.  The  reaping-time  had  come,  and  you  will  find 
that  when  they  came  to  him  and  said  that  Joseph  was  dead, 
they  could  not  comfort  him.  His  sons  and  daughters 
gathered  around  him  and  tried  to,  but  he  would  not  be 
comforted.  He  says,  "  I  will  go  down  to  my  grave  mourn- 
ing for  that  boy."  You  can  see  that  old  man  as  he  lies 
upon  his  bed  at  night ;  he  dreams  of  that  favorite  son  being 
torn  to  pieces  by  \vild  beasts.  He  can  hear  that  voice  call- 
ing out  for  help.  There  he  was,  moaning  day  and  night 
for  twenty  long  years — moaning  over  him  for  dead.  When 
they  came  back  from  Egypt  and  said  that  the  governor 
had  treated  them  roughly,  when  they  said  they  wanted 
more  corn,  and  that  he  said  they  couldn't  get  any  more 
corn  unless  they  brought  back  Benjamin,  and  that  the 
governor  had  taken  Simeon  and  cast  him  into  prison,  and 
would  not  let  him  go,  hear  what  the  old  man  says:  "I 
will  not  let  Benjamin  go.  Joseph  and  Simeon  are  gone. 
All  these  things  are  against  me."  He  had  a  stormy  voy- 
age, didn't  he.     A  man  that  will  not  walk  by  faith  always 


264 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


has  trouble.  A  man  that  is  always  trying  to  plan  for  him- 
self and  not  have  God  plan  for  him,  never  knows  what 
true  peace  and  comfort  is.  In  the  42.th  chapter  we  see  what 
the  testimony  is.  He  never  could  get  any  to  honor  his 
God.  All  "  these  things  are  against  me."  If  that  is  your 
testimony,  they  said,  we  don't  want  your  God.  We  would 
raiher  have  the  God  of  the  Egyptians.  See  what  testimony 
he  took  to  Pharaoh,  47th  chapter  and  9th  verse.  "  And 
Jacob  said  unto  Pharaoh,  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pil- 
grimage are  an  hundred  and  thirty  years :  few  and  evil  have 
the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained 
unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in 
the  days  of  their  pilgrimage."  What  a  stormy  voyage  ! 
"  Evil  days  I  have  had."  Good  testimony  to  take  to  a 
heathen  king!  These  Christians  who  are  trying  to  make 
bargains  with  the  Lord,  trying  to  and  walking  by  sight, 
instead  of  by  faith,  are  a  great  hindrance  to  the  Church  of 
God,  and  have  never  brought  anybody  to  the  cross  of 
Christ.  We  want  faith  in  God.  We  want  to  take  Him  at 
His  word  and  trust  Him,  then  we  will  be  able  to  testify 
that  our  days  have  not  been  evil,  but  the  glorious  Son  of 
God  has  been  with  us  all  the  time  and  blessed  us,  and  His 
ligtit  has  been  shining  brighter  and  brighter  upon  our  path 
every  day  as  we  have  been  journeying  on  towards  Heaven. 
But  this  is  His  testimony,  "  Few  and  evil  have  the  days  of 
the  years  of  my  life  been."  Queer  testimony  to  take  down 
to  that  heathen  king.  But,  my  friends,  let  us  keep  this  in 
mind,  that  although  Jacob  had  all  these  failings,  God  was 
with  him,  blessed  him,  and  condescended  to  call  Himself 
the  God  of  Jacob,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  this  all  magnifies 
Christ.  There  may  be  a  man  here  who  has  a  treacherous 
disposition.  If  he  will  bring  it  right  to  God  He  has  grace 
enough  to  keep  him,  to  give  him  victory.  And  we  find 
that  the  old  man  died  in  peace,  although  in  exile.  He 
might  have  died   at  home  with  his  family ;  his  last  days 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JACOB.         265 

might  have  been  glorious,  Hke  Joshua's,  if  he  had  only 
been  willing  to  walk  by  faith  ;  but  no,  he  would  walk  by 
sight ;  take  himself  out  of  God's  hands.  If  he  had  lived 
in  a  castle  he  might  just-as  well  have  written  over  the  door 
*'  Doubting  Castle."  He  all  the  time  saw  bears — trouble 
with  Esau,  trouble  with  his  father-in-law,  trouble  all  the 
way,  because  he  wouldn't  take  God  at  His  word.  May 
God  help  us  to  learn  a  lesson  from  Jacob,  and  may  we 
learn  this,  to  put  our  whole  being  into  God's  hands.  God 
will  take  care  of  us.  There  cannot  a  sparrow  fall  but  that 
He  notices  it.  Every  hair  of  your  head  is  numbered. 
God  knows  our  hearts  better  than  we  do.  Your  Heavenly 
Father  knows  all  your  needs.  You  need  not  be  harassed, 
troubled  or  tormented  about  the  future.  God  will  help  us 
if  we  put  our  trust  in  Him.  Have  faith  in  God,  and  not 
be  complaining  all  the  time. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA. 


You  that  were  here  last  Thursday  afternoon  remember 
that  I  was  talking  about  the  life  and  character  of  Jacob. 
This  morning  I  shall  talk  about  Joshua,  and  draw  a  con- 
trast between  the  two.  Jacob  was  one  of  those  characters 
that  want  to  walk  by  sight  rather  than  by  faith.  He  want- 
ed to  read  out  everything,  wanted  to  see  how  he  was  com- 
ing out  in  the  end,  before  he  attempted  anything,  just  like 
a  good  many  men  nowadays.  Joshua  was  a  man  that 
walked  by  faith,  and  you  will  find  the  key  to  his  character 
in  three  words — courage,  obedience,  and  faith.  Courage, 
obedience,  and  faith.  And  he  dared  to  be  in  the  minority. 
Now,  friends,  there  are  very  few  men  at  the  present  time 
that  like  to  be  in  the  minority.  They  always  want  to  be 
in  the  majority.  They  want  to  go  with  the  crowd  ;  but 
when  a  man  has  laid  hold  of  the  Divine  nature  of  God,  has 
become  a  product  of  the  Divine  nature,  he  is  willing  then 
to  go  against  the  crowd  of  the  world  and  be  numbered 
with  the  minority.  Where  Joshua  met  the  God  of  Israel 
first  we  are  not  told.  We  don't  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  till 
he  is  about  forty  years  old.  The  first  sight  we  get  of 
Joshua  is  as  he  comes  up  out  of  Egypt.  We  are  told  that 
after  Moses  had  struck  the  rock  in  Horeb  ;  and  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  had  drank  the  water  that  came  out  of  that 
rock  ;  and  that  rock  was  typical  of  Christ  and  of  God's 
pure  throne,  that  Amalek  came  out  to  fight  them,  and  after 
they  had  got  a  drink  of  this  water  they  were  willing  to  meet 
him.  We  find  that  Joshua's  first  battle  was  successful,  and 
that  his  last  one  was  successful.     He  never  knew  what 

a6f. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.        267 

defeat  was.  He  was  successful  because  he  believed  in  the 
Lord  God  of  Heaven,  because  he  had  perfect  faith  in  God. 
Moses  went  up  into  the  mountain  to  pray,  and,  while  he 
was  praying,  Joshua  was  down  fighting  Amalek.  And  when 
Moses  held  up  his  hand  Israel  prevailed,  and  when  he  let 
down  his  hand  Amalek  prevailed.  "  And  Aaron  and  Hur 
stayed  up  his  hands,  the  one  on  the  one  side,  and  the  other 
on  the  other  side  ;  and  his  hands  were  steady  until  the  going 
down  of  the  sun."  His  hands  were  up  until  Amalek  was 
defeated.  There  is  only  one  thing  against  Joshua.  He 
was  opposed  to  the  preaching  of  Eldad  and  Aminidab. 
He  didn't  like  Eldad  and  Aminidab  out  there  preaching  in 
the  camp,  because  they  didn't  belong  to  the  Apostolic  body. 
So  he  says  to  Moses  :  "  I  wish  you  would  rebuke  Eldad 
and  Aminidab  for  preaching  in  the  camp.  I  don't  want 
them  to  preach  there."  But  Moses  said  :  "  No  :  I  will 
not.  That's  just  what  we  want.  I  wish  to  God  there  were 
more  of  them."  And  that  is  just  what  we  want  in  this 
city  to-day.  Let  men  preach,  no  matter  what  their  creed, 
no  matter  what  their  particular  denomination.  If  you 
can't  preach  yourself  go  out  and  bid  others  to  come  and 
hear  the  preaching.  But  after  Moses  rebuked  him  we  never 
hear  him  complaining  any  more  about  Eldad  and  Amini- 
dab. That  is  the  only  thing  on  record  against  him.  The 
next  thing  we  hear  of  is  those  twelve  spies,  and  I  will  pass 
over  that.  You  remember  how  they  came  back,  and  Joshua 
and  Caleb  were  the  only  two  out  of  the  twelve  that  dared 
to  bring  in  a  minority  report.  But  now  the  forty  years' 
v/ilderness  journey  is  over,  and  during  all  these  forty  years 
you  cannot  find  any  place  where  Caleb  and  Joshua  ever  mur- 
mured, ever  complained.  They  were  not  of  that  kind. 
And  wherever  you  find  a  man  or  woman  successful  in  God's 
service,  you  never  hear  them  complaining  or  whining — no 
murmuring,  no  grumbling,  and  the  Lord  God  blesses  them. 
Now,  as  I  said,  the  forty  years'  wilderness  journey  is  over, 


268  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

and  Moses  is  about  to  leave,  and  if  you  have  never  read 
the  farewell  address  of  Moses  that  you  will  find  in  the  last 
few  chapters  of  Deuteronomy.  I  advise  you  to  read  it  to-day. 
You  are  reading  a  great  many  printed  sermons.  Suppose 
you  read  that.  Why,  there  is  as  much  truth  in  that  as  there 
is  in  fifteen  hundred  printed  sermons  at  the  present  time. 
Let  me  just  give  you  a  few  verses  : 

"  Give  ear,  O  ye  heavens,  and  I  will  speak  ;  and  hear, 
O  earth,  the  words  of  my  mouth. 

"  My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain,  my  speech  shall 
distil  as  the  dew,  as  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  herb, 
and  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass  : 

"  Because  I  will  publish  the  name  of  the  Lord  :  ascribe 
ye  greatness  unto  our  God. 

"  He  is  the  Rock,  his  work  is  perfect :  for  all  his  ways 
are  judgment:  a  God  of  truth  and  without  iniquity,  just 
and  right  is  he. 

"They  have  corrupted  themselves,  their  spot  is  not 
the  spot  of  his  children :  they  are  a  perverse  and  crooked 
generation. 

"  Do  ye  thus  requite  the  Lord,  O  foolish  people  and 
unwise.?  Is  not  he  thy  father  that  hath  bought  thee? 
hath  he  not  made  thee  and  established  thee  ? 

"  Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of  many 
generations :  ask  thy  father  and  he  will  shew  thee ;  thy 
elders,  and  they  will  tell  thee. 

"  When  the  Most  High  divided  to  the  nations  their  in- 
heritance, when  he  separated  the  sons  of  Adam,  he  set 
the  bounds  of  the  people  according  to  the  number  of  the 
children  of  Israel. 

"  For  the  Lord's  portion  is  his  people  ;  Jacob  is  the 
lot  of  his  inheritance. 

"  He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste 
howling  wilderness  ;  he  led  him  about,  he  instructed  him, 
he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye." 

There  are  two  or  three  sermons  in  that  last  verse.  Just 
see  what  he  did  : 

"  He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste  howl- 
ing wilderness  ;  he  led  him  about,  he  instructed  him,  he 
kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.         269 

"As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her 
young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth 
them  on  her  wings  : 

"  So  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and  there  was  no 
strange  god  with  him," 

Just  notice  that ;  and  there  was  no  strange  god  with 
hnii. 

"  He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth, 
that  he  might  eat  the  increase  of  the  fields  ;  and  he  made 
him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock,  and  oil  out  of  the  flinty 
rock." 

And  so  he  went  on  and  finished  his  sermon,  and  God 
called  him  off  into  the  mountain.  He  went  up  into 
Mount  Nebo,  and  there  God  showed  him  from  the  top 
of  Pisgah  that  land  that  he  could  not  possess  ;  showed 
him  the  land  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  and  then,  as  some 
one  says,  "  God  kissed  away  his  soul  and  buried  him." 
There  he  was  buried  by  the  Almighty  Himself.  And  now 
Joshua  is  commanded  to  take  charge  of  the  army.  And 
the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Joshua,  saying,  "Joshua, 
arise,  and  go  over  this  Jordan.  Moses,  my  servant,  is  dead." 
There  was  no  president,  no  general,  no  marshal  about  it. 
There  was  no  title  at  all,  but  just  merely  "  Joshua,  arise, 
and  go  over  this  Jordan."  Now,  Joshua  just  obeyed,  and 
here  you  will  find  the  secret  of  his  wonderful  success.  He 
just  did  what  the  Lord  told  him  to  do.  If  he  had  stood, 
like  a  good  many  people,  and  said,  "  I  don't  know  how  I 
am  going  to  get  these  people  over.  Hadn't  you  better 
wait.  Lord,  until  the  next  day.?  How  am  I  going  to  get 
these  three  million  people  over  this  angry  flood  ?  Hadn't 
we  better  wait  until  the  waters  go  down  ? "  But,  no  ;  he 
didn't  say  that.  He  had  got  his  command  from  God, 
"  Arise  and  go  !  "  When  the  Lord  gave  orders,  that  was 
enough.  He  had  got  his  word,  and  he  brings  these  children 
of  Israel  down  in  sight  of  the  whole  streams.     Faith  mus* 


270  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

be  tried.  God  won't  have  people  He  can't  try.  He  brings 
them  there  in  three  days,  in  sight  of  that  angry  flood,  with 
not  a  word  of  murmuring.  If  he  had  brought  them  there 
forty  years  before,  what  murmuring  there  would  have 
been  !  We'll  get  trained,  every  one  of  us.  They  had  had 
their  faith  tried  in  those  foity  years  in  the  wilderness,  and 
now  they  murmured  not.  There  was  not  a  word  of  com- 
plaint. But  forty  years  before  they  would  have  said,  when 
they  got  opposite  Jericho,  "  What's  He  going  to  do  ?  How 
are  we  going  to  get  over  ?  We've  got  to  have  a  bridge  or 
a  pontoon.  And  even  if  we  get  over  they  will  see  us  and 
defeat  us.  They  will  slay  us  here  on  the  bank  of  Jordan. 
Guess  we  had  better  turn  round  and  go  back."  That's 
what  they  would  have  said,  what  they  would  have  tried,  and 
what  they  would  have  done  forty  years  before.  But  now 
Joshua  tells  the  people  that  the  priests  are  to  walk  out  in 
front  of  them,  and  that  the  moment  the  priests  touched  the 
water,  the  moment  the  soles  of  their  feet  touched  the 
water,  the  water  was  to  be  cut  off.  There  was  faith  for 
you !  When  these  seven  men  took  up  the  ark,  God  was 
with  them,  and  the  moment  the  soles  of  their  feet  touched 
the  water  the  waters  were  cut  off,  and  they  passed  into  the 
middle  of  the  stream  and  put  down  the  ark.  That  ark 
represented  the  Almighty.  He  was  in  the  ark,  with  the 
ark  right  there  in  the  midst  of  death — for  Jordan  is  death 
and  judgment — right  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  He  held 
that  stream  in  the  palm  of  His  hand.  And  now  the  people 
pass  beyond — 3,000,000  of  them.  You  can  hear  their 
solemn  tread.  Not  a  word  said  on  their  march  through 
death  and  judgment  until  Joshua  led  them  on  to  Resurrec- 
tion Ground.  After  he  had  got  them  all  over,  he  told 
twelve  men,  one  from  each  tribe,  to  take  each  a  stone  and 
set  them  up  whera  the  pr  ests  stood,  so  that  when  their 
children  asked,  "  What  mean  ye  by  these  stones  ?  "  they 
could  tell  how  the   Almightv  had  brought  them    through. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  DF  JOSHUA.        271 

clangers  into  the  promised  land.  Now,  after  they  had  put 
their  stones,  the  ark  was  brought  up  out  of  the  Jordan,  and 
the  waters  rolled  off.  Now,  instead  of  moving  right  on  at 
once  to  Jericho,  they  stopped  to  keep  the  Passover.  They 
were  in  no  hurry.  They  were  willing  to  worship  God. 
They  kept  the  Passover,  and  after  that  they  started  for 
Jericho.  Jericho  was  shut  off  undoubtedly,  and  undoubt- 
edly the  hearts  of  those  people  were  filled  with  fear.  Here 
the  children  of  Israel  had  come  to  their  country  and  their 
God  had  brousfht  them  throu2:h  the  Red  Sea  with  an  out- 
stretched  arm.  Surely  there  was  a  strange  God  among 
them.  Jericho  had  no  such  God  as  that.  He  had  defended 
them,  and  led  them,  and  given  them  light  and  life  after 
that.  But  now  Joshua  just  takes  a  walk  around  the  walls 
of  Jericho.  God  had  ordered  him  to  take  it,  and  he  must. 
And  as  he  was  walking  around  viewing  the  walls  of  Jericho, 
all  at  once  a  man  stood  right  in  front  of  him  with  a  drawn 
sword  right  over  him,  and  God  said  :  "  No  man  can  be 
able  to  stand  before  you  all  the  days  of  your  life."  And 
Joshua  steps  right  up  to  him,  and  says:  "  Art  thou  for  us 
or  for  our  adversaries .''  "  "  No,  I  am  captain  of  God's  host, 
come  to  lead  you  to  victory."  Then  Joshua  fell  on  his 
face, "and  God  talked  with  him.  And  that  is  just  the  time 
God  is  going  to  talk  with  you — when  you  fall  on  your  face  ; 
when  you  humble  yourself  in  the  dust  before  Him.  Oh, 
how  many  Boston  men  would  have  laughed  at  Joshua  if 
they  had  been  in  Jericho  !  How  much  sport  they  would 
have  made  of  him !  If  there  had  been  any  Jericho  Heralds 
what  articles  would  have  come  out !  The  idea  of  taking 
the  city  in  that  way.  The  ark  was  to  come  out,  and  the 
priests  were  to  blow  rams'  horns.  That  was  very  absurd, 
wasn't  it.  Rams'  horns.  I  think  there  are  people  here,  if 
they  wanted  anybody  to  blow  anything,  they  would  want  them 
to  blow  silver  trumpets.  The  idea  of  Dr.  Webb,  Dr.  Pente- 
cost, Mr.  Brooks,  Catholic  divines  and  apostolic  Protestants 


2^2  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

going  around  the  streets  and  blowing  rams'  horns.  Oil, 
no,  they  are  too  fine  for  that.  They  must  blow  beautiful 
silver  trumpets.  They  were  to  march  around  the  walls  ot 
Jericho,  and  not  a  word  was  to  be  said.  That  is  just  what 
God  told  them.  Bear  in  mind,  Jericho  is  going  to  be  taken 
by  faith.  God  is  going  to  work  by  faith.  The  people  of 
Jericho  couldn't  understand  what  this  marching  and  this 
blowing  of  rams'  horns  meant.  At  first,  perhaps,  they 
were  a  little  afraid, — with  these  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  marching  in  solemn  procession  around  their  city. 
Well,  they  marched  around  it  the  first  time ;  but  instead  of 
taking  the  city,  they  went  into  camp.  The  next  morning 
they  were  up  again.  These  seven  men  going  around  the 
ciiy  blowing  rams'  horns  and  these  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people,  following  after  the  ark,  marching  around  the 
city.  And  so  the  third  day,  so  the  fourth,  and  so  the  fifth. 
By  this  time,  perhaps,  the  alarm  of  the  people  of  Jericho 
was  about  gone.     You  can  hear  them  saying,  "  They  think 

!  they   can   take  the   city !  How  are   they  going  to   do   it  ? 

I  They  haven't  got  any  arms.  Here  we  have  great  thick 
walls  and  great  iron  gates,  and  they  haven't  got  any  arms. 
How  are  they  going  to  take  this  city?  They've  got  no 
battering-rams,  no  weapons.  How  are  they  going  to  take 
it?  The  idea!"  Well,  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day, 
they  go  around  as  usual  blowing  their  rams'  horns,  the 
people  following  after  the  ark.  If  the  children  of  Israel 
had  just  come  out  of  Egypt,  they  would  have  said,  "  How 
foolish  to  try  to  take  the  city  in  that  way !  Here  we  have 
been  marching  around  it  five  days,  and  the  city  is  no  nearer 
being  taken  now  than  it  was  before."  But  now  it  was 
different.  They  had  heard  the  voice  of  God,  and  God  was 
going  to  be  with  them  after  they  had  learned  their  lesson 
in  the  wilderness.  If  He  told  them  to  go  around  the  walls 
of  the  city  seven  times,  they  knew  they  must  do  it.  Well, 
the  seventh  day  came,  and  they  were  up  very  early  in  the 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.         273 

morning.  I  can  imagine  it  was  about  daybreak.  The 
whole  town  was  startled  to  hear  the  rams'  horns.  But 
instead  of  going  into  camp  after  the  first  march  around  the 
walls,  they  go  around  the  second  time,  and  I  think  I  hear 
the  people  say,  "  What  does  this  mean  ?  Why,  they  are 
going  around  twice  !  "  They  go  around  the  third,  the  fourth 
and  the  fifth  times.  I  see  the  people  yet  on  the  walls  of  the 
city,  and  watch  these  men  walking  around  in  solemn  proces- 
sion. "  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  "  they  say.  Not  a  man 
speaks  a  word.  Here  were  these  seven  men  blowing  their 
rams'  horns,  and  the  people  going  around  for  the  seventh 
time.  At  the  end  of  the  seventh  time  Joshua  says,  "  Shout, 
for  the  Lord  has  given  you  the  city."  And  they  shout.  They 
shout,  and  down  tumbles  the  walls  of  Jericho.  And  they 
went  up  and  went  into  the  city.  And  every  man,  woman 
and  child  perished  in  that  city.  God  had  given  the  order, 
and  His  commands  were  obeyed.  Now,  my  friends,  what 
we  want  to  learn  from  this  lesson  is  to  obey  God.  There 
are  a  good  many  people  who  think  they  know  a  good  deal 
better  how  to  do  these  things  than  the  Lord  does.  Un- 
doubtedly, if  there  had  been  a  good  many  Boston  men 
there  they  would  have  advised  taking  the  city  in  some 
other  way  ;  but  what  the  Lord  said  He  would  do  He  did. 
And  whatever  He  says  he  will  do  He  will  do  it.  Now  they 
move  on  to  Ai.  You  know  after  a  victory  is  gained  over 
some  large  town  they  attack  and  take  these  little  outland 
towns.  So  in  this  case.  They  mpved  right  on  to  Ai. 
Joshua  sent  men  from  Jericho  to  Ai,  and  they  came  back 
and  told  him  that  just  a  few  thousand  men  could  take  Ai  ; 
and  they  go  up  and  are  repulsed,  and  Joshua  rends  his 
clothes  and  falls  on  his  face,  and  cries  to  God  what  the 
fault  was.  He  knew  the  fault  was  in  the  camp — not  God's. 
And  so  when  the  Church  of  God  don't  advance,  bear  in 
mind  it  is  not  God's  fault :  it  is  ours.  And  God  won't 
advance  the  Church   until  we  fall  on  our  face  like  Joshua 

18 


274 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


and  acknowledge  that  the  fault  is  ours.  When  they  went 
into  Jericho,  they  were  told  not  to  touch  one  solitary  thing; 
but  there  was  Acham  saw  a  nice  garment — perhaps  he 
thought  it  would  be  a  nice  dress  for  his  wife — he  saw  two 
hundred  shekels  of  silver  and  a  wedge  of  gold,  and  he 
coveted  them  and  took  them.  Oh,  God  hates  that  sin  of 
covetousness  !  Acham  hid  them  ;  but  he  could  not  conceal 
it.  He  had  to  confess  that  he  had  sinned  against  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel.  He  could  not  keep  it  in.  Those 
men  of  Ai  were  so  humbled  that  they  could  not  stand 
before  the  Lord.  Now,  after  leaving  Ai,  we  read  that 
Joshua  comes  unto  Mount  Ebal,  and  there  a  wonderful 
thing  took  place.  On  one  side,  on  the  slope  of  Mount 
Gerizim,  were  half  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  on  the 
other,  on  the  slope  of  Mount  Ebal,  were  the  other  half. 
There  were  three  million  of  people  just  gathered  there,  and 
the  whole  law  of  Moses  was  read  over  to  them.  It  was  a 
solemn  sight.  Moreover,  all  the  law  of  God  was  read. 
Not  a  part,  but  the  whole.  Joshua  read  the  blessings  and 
cursings.  He  didn't  stand  up  there  like  some  one  reading 
a  moral  essay  and  say  that  they  must  be  good  for  they 
were  going  into  the  promised  land  ;  that  there  were  bless- 
ings for  them,  and  said  nothing  about  the  curses.  No ; 
he  didn't  do  that.  He  read  all.  It  says  here  in  the  eighth 
chapter  ;  "  And  all  Israel,  and  their  elders,  and  officers, 
and  their  judges,  stood  on  this  side  the  ark  and  on  that 
side  before  the  priests,  the  Levites,  which  bore  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord,  as  well  the  stranger  as  he  that 
was  born  among  them  ;  half  of  them  over  against  Mount 
Gerizim,  and  half  of  them  over  against  Mount  Ebal;  as 
Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  had  commanded  before,  that 
they  should  bless  the  people  of  Israel.  And  afterwards  he 
read  all  the  words  of  the  law,  the  blessings  and  cursings, 
according  to  all  that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law." 
Now,  mark  that.     "  He  read  all  the  words  of  the  law,  the 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.         275 

blessings  and  cursings,  according  to  all  that  is  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law."  If  he  had  been  like  a  good 
many  nowadays,  he  would  have  said  to  himself,  "  I  will 
read  the  blessings  ;  not  the  cursings.  I  don't  believe  God 
is  going  to  curse  a  man  if  he  does  wrong,  so  I  will  read 
the  blessings  and  not  the  cursings."  But,  thank  God,  he 
read  the  whole  law  ! — the  blessings  and  the  cursings.  He 
didn't  keep  back  anything.  "  And  there  was  not  a  word 
of  all  that  Moses  commanded  which  Joshua  read  not."' 
There  was  not  one  solitary  word  that  Moses  had  com- 
manded but  what  Joshua  read.  Oh,  thank  God  for  such  a 
man  ! 

That's  the  kind  of  men  we  want  nowadays — men  who 
won't  take  and  cut  the  Bible  to  pieces  like  the  king  who 
took  out  his  penknife  and  said,  "  I  don't  like  that.  Cut 
that  out;  I  don't  like  that.  Cut  that  out."  And  so  they 
cut  and  slashed  away  at  the  Bible  until  they  haven't 
got  hardly  anything  left.  The  33d  verse  of  the 
8th  chapter  says  they  were  all  there.  "  As  well  the 
stranger,  as  he  that  was  born  among  them."  You  see  he 
made  no  distinction.  He  read  to  the  stranger  as  well  as 
to  those  that  were  of  the  children  of  Israel.  It  was  all 
read.  And  now  he  is  ready  to  move  on.  The  law  had 
been  read,  they  had  worshipped  their  God,  and  were  ready 
to  move  on.  Undoubtedly  the  nations  all  through  that 
land  had  heard  how^  this  solemn  assembly  had  met  on  the 
mountain-side  and  the  law  had  been  read.  Now,  they  are 
ready  to  move  on  again.  Some  one  comes  to  them — they 
had  been  there  some  time,  three  days — some  one  comes 
and  tells  Joshua,  "  Joshua,  have  you  heard  that  there  is  a 
confederacy  formed  against  you  ?  Instead  of  meeting  one 
man  you  are  to  meet  five.  They  are  coming  down  from 
the  mountains  with  great  regiments  of  giants.  Why,  the 
mountains  are  full  of  the  sons  of  Anak — full  of  giants ; 
some  of  these   men   are  six  feet  high.     Why,  they  are  so 


276  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

big  that  they  would  scare  our  own  men  to  death  !  Why, 
one  man  came  out  and  just  shook  his  little  finger  at  our 
men  and  scared  them  out  of  their  lives  !  There  wasn't  a 
man  dared  to  meet  them  !  The  whole  land  is  full  of  giants. 
Do  you  know  that  they  have  formed  a  confederacy  ?  Five 
kings  are  coming  against  you."  I  see  the  old  warrior. 
He  doesn't  tremble  at  all.  He  had  got  the  word  of  God  : 
"Joshua,  be  of  good  courage.  No  man  shall  be  able  to 
stand  against  you."  He  moved  on  in  his  godly  armor  and 
in  the  name  of  his  God,  and  he  routed  his  adversaries.  It 
was  growing  late,  and  he  commanded  the  sun  and  moon  to 
stand  still,  and  they  obeyed  him.  So  there  were  two  days 
in  one.  He  found  the  five  kings  hid  away  in  a  cave,  and 
he  took  them  out  and  hanged  them.  He  took  thirty-one 
kings  and  kingdoms.  He  just  took  that  land  by  faith. 
Now,  some  people  say,  ''What  right  had  he  to  come  over 
and  take  that  land  ?  "  If  you  will  read  the  9th  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy  and  the  4th  verse,  you  will  see  what 
right  he  had.  "  Speak  not  thou  in  thine  heart,  after  that 
the  Lord  thy  God  hath  cast  them  out  fiom  before  thee, 
saying.  For  my  righteousness  the  Lord  hath  brought  me 
in  to  possess  this  land  ;  but  for  the  wickedness  of  these 
nations  the  Lord  doth  drive  them  out  from  before  thee." 
That  is  why  He  drove  them  out.  Their  cup  of  iniquity  was 
filled,  and  God  just  dashed  it  to  pieces.  When  any  na- 
tion's cup  of  iniquity  is  full,  God  just  sweeps  them  away. 
Now,  mark  the  Scripture  :  "  Not  for  thy  righteousness,  or 
for  the  uprightness  of  thine  heart  dost  thou  go  to  possess 
their  land  ;  but  for  the  wickedness  of  these  nations,  the 
Lord  thy  God  doth  drive  them  out  from  before  thee,  and 
that  He  may  perform  the  word  which  the  Lord  swore  unto 
thy  fathers,  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jocob."  "Understand, 
therefore,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  not  this  good 
land  to  possess  it  for  thy  righteousness  ;  for  thou  art  a  stiff- 
necked  people."     They  were  a  stiff-necked  people.     It  was 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.        277 

not  for  the  righteousness  of  the  children  of  Israel  that  the 
Lord  gave  them  this  land.  He  hated  these  nations  on 
account  of  their  wickedness.  Now  Joshua  has  overcome 
them  and  driven  them  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  this 
brings  out  one  noble  trait  in  his  character.  When  he 
came  to  divide  up  the  land,  Joshua  took  the  poorest  treas- 
ure himself  that  he  might  be  near  the  ark.  And  there, 
on  Mount  Ephraim,  he  died  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  no; 
and  during  all  these  years  not  one  single  solitary  man  was 
able  to  stand  before  him.  See  the  contrast  between  his 
dying  testimony  and  that  of  Jacob  !  "  Few  and  evil  have 
the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been."  He  had  a  stormy 
voyage.  Now  look  and  see  this  old  warrior  going  to  rest. 
He  had  tried  God  forty  years.  He  had  heard  the  crack 
of  the  slave-driver's  whip  down  there  in  Egypt ;  but  proba- 
bly he  had  a  praying  mother,  who  talked  to  him  about  this 
King  of  the  Hebrews,  about  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac, 
and  of  Jacob  j  and  he  believed  in  that  God  ;  and  when 
Moses  came  down  into  Egypt  he  finds  this  young  man  just 
in  the  prime  of  his  life  ;  and  Joshua  recognizes  in  Moses 
that  he  was  the  instrument  of  the  Almighty,  that  the  King 
of  the  Hebrews  had  sent  him  there  to  deliver  His  people. 
He  had  tried  God  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  when 
eighty  years  old  he  was  called  into  the  promised  land.  He 
had  tried  God  thirty  years  in  Canaan,  and  now,  at  the  age 
of  no,  the  old  warrior  is  going  home,  and  he  is  not  going 
to  die  like  an  infidel.  He  knows  he  is  going  to  die,  and 
he  calls  for  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  their  elders,  and 
they  come  up  from  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  the  tribe  of 
Simeon,  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  and  so  on,  and  they  gather 
in  at  Shiloh  to  be  there  to  hear  the  old  prophet  and  the 
old  patriarch,  and  that  man  of  God  speaks,  and  what  does 
he  say  ?  What  is  his  dying  testi-mony  ?  How  we  linger 
round  the  couch  of  our  dying  friends  !  How  anxious  we 
are  to  get  their  last  words  !     Well,  let  us  turn  back.    What 


278  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

are  the  last  words  of  this  man  who  has  tried  God  and  proved 
God  ?  This  is  it :  "I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the 
earth ;  and  ye  know  in  your  hearts  and  in  all  your  souls 
that  not  one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good  things  which 
the  Lord  your  God  spake  concerning  you  ;  all  are  come  to 
pass  unto  you,  and  not  one  thing  hath  failed  thereof." 
"  Not  one  good  thing  hath  failed."  God  has  kept  His 
word.  God  has  made  His  word  good.  "  Not  one  good 
thing  hath  failed."  What  a  dying  testimony  !  How  glori- 
ous !  In  the  beautiful  sunset  light  the  old  warrior  sank 
away  like  he  was  going  to  sleep.  In  the  dusk  of  a  beautiful 
summer's  evening  he  passed  away.  There  is  the  old  man's 
dying  testimony.  He  could  tell  the  people  of  God.  He 
was  the  only  one  left.  The  rest  had  gone.  Moses  had 
sunk  into  his  desert  grave,  and  the  other  leaders  of  the 
tribe  of  Israel  had  passed  away.  But  now  he  was  going 
to  die  in  the  promised  land.  This  is  dying  testimony. 
"  I  go  this  day  the  way  of  all  the  earth  ;  and  ye  know  in 
your  hearts  and  in  all  your  souls  that  not  one  thing 
hath  failed  of  all  the  o^ood  thin2:s  which  the  Lord 
your  God  spake  concerning  you  ;  all  are  come  to  pass 
unto  you,  and  not  one  thing  has  failed  thereof."  My 
friends,  let  us  take  God  at  His  word.  Let  us  try  Him. 
Let  us  prove  Him.  We  will  find  that  God  is  true.  All 
these  men  that  are  trying  to  pick  the  Word  of  God  to 
pieces,trying  to  destroy  our  confidence  in  the  Word  of  God, 
tell  us  it  is  not  true  ;  but  any  one  who  has  ever  tried  God, 
who  have  ever  proved  God,  have  found  Him  to  be  true, 
Let  us  pray. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER. 


The  iirst  glimpse  that  we  catch  of  Peter  is  when  An- 
drew brought  him  to  the  Saviour.  That  is  John's  account. 
That  i«  when  he  became  a  disciple ;  but  he  didn't  leave 
everything  then  and  follow  Christ.  He  waited  until  he 
got  another  call.  I  think  we  all  can  learn  a  lesson  right 
here.  That  it  is  not  every  one  that  is  called  to  be  a  disciple 
of  Jesus,  that  is  called  to  leave  his  occupation  and  become 
his  follower  entirely.  I  believe  there  are  a  great  many  self- 
made  preachers,  man-made  preachers,  and  that  is  the  rea- 
son why  so  many  fail.  No  man  who  is  called  by  God  has  ever 
failed,  or  has  ever  broken  down  in  the  ministry  ;  but  when 
a  man  runs  before  he  is  sent,  I  believe  he  will  fail.  Now,  we 
are  all  called  to  be  His  disciples  ;  all  called  to  follow  Him  ; 
but  we  are  not  all  called  to  give  up  our  occupation  and 
devote  all  our  whole  time  to  the  ministry.  I  have  men  come 
to  me  constantly  who  say  they  have  been  raised  up,  and 
want  to  give  up  their  business  and  their  worldly  occupa- 
tion and  go  into  the  work  of  the  Lord  entirely ;  and  I 
never  yet  advised  a  man  to  go  into  the  ministry.  I  think 
I  never  advised  a  man  to  give  up  his  occupation  and  to  go 
out  into  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  and  go  to  work.  It  is 
too  high  a  calling,  it  seems  to  me,  for  men  to  be  influenc- 
ing one  another  to  go  into  it.  If  a  man  will  only  wait  un- 
til God  calls  him,  be  sure  that  God  sends  him,  then  suc- 
cess will  crown  his  efforts.  Now,  we  find  in  the  5th 
chapter  of  Luke,  and  also  in  the  4th  chapter  of  Matthew, 
where  Peter  got  his  calling.  He  was  out  with  his  partners 
and  others  fishing,  w^hen  Christ  came  along  and  told  them 
to  cast  their  net,  or  to  launch  out  into  the  deep   and  cast 


/ 


28o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

their  net  into  the  sea  ;  but  Peter  says,  "We  have  toiled  all 
night  and  caught  nothing  ; "  but  Jesus  sa3^s,  "  Neverthe- 
less, let  down  your  nets  ;  "  and  at  the  word  of  God  they 
did  so,  and  were  successful,  and  whe?i  they  got  ashore  they 
found  that  Christ  had  called  them  to  be  His  disciples. 
You  just  turn,  if  you  have  your  Bibles  with  you,  to  the 
5  th  chapter  of  Luke  : 

"  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  as  the  people  pressed  upon 
him  to  hear  the  word  of  Goe^,  he  stood  by  the  lake  of  Gen- 
nesaret, 

"  And  saw  two  ships  standing  by  the  lake :  but  the 
fishermen  were  gone  out  of  them,  and  were  washing  their 
nets. 

"  And  he  entered  into  one  of  the  ships,  which  was 
Simon's,  and  prayed  him  that  he  would  thrust  out  a  little 
from  the  land.  And  he  sat  down,  and  taught  the  people 
out  of  the  ship. 

"  Now  when  he  had  left  speaking,  he  said  unto  Simon, 
Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a 
draught. 

"  And  Simon  answering  said  unto  him.  Master,  we 
have  toiled  all  the  nio;ht,  and  have  taken  nolhino: :  never- 
theless,  at  thy  word  I  will  let  down  the  net. 

"  And  when  they  had  this  done,  they  enclosed  a  great 
multitude  of  fishes  :  and  their  net  brake. 

"  And  they  beckoned  unto  theij^-  partners,  which  were 
in  the  other  ship,  that  they  should  come  and  help  them. 
And  they  came,  and  filled  both  the  ships,  so  that  they  be- 
gan to  sink, 

"  When  Simon  Peter  saw  //,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus' 
knees,  saying.  Depart  from  me  ;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord. 

"  For  he  was  astonished,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  at 
the  draught  of  the  fishes  which  they  had  taken  : 

"  And  so  was  also  James,  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebe- 
dee,  which  were  partners  with  Simon.  And  Jesus  said 
unto  Simon,  Fear  not ;  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch 
men. 

"  And  when  they  had  brought  their  ships  to  land,  they 
forsook  all,  and  followed  him." 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER.  281 

YoLi  see  it  says  that  Christ  just  said  to  them,  "  Follow 
me,  and  I  will  make  your  fishers  of  men."  And  no  one 
was  more  successful  in  the  world,  in  catching  men,  than 
Peter.  And  if  you  will  just  follow  the  Lord  and  believe  in 
him,  He  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.  Now  some  may 
wonder  why  it  was  that  God  didn't  call  them  when  they 
had  their  nets  empty — why  did  the  Lord  just  give  them  a 
draught  of  fish  and  then  tell  them  to  leave  it  ?  Now  it 
seems  to  me  that  He  did  so  because  he  wanted  them  to 
leave  something,  and  if  the  Lord  calls  us  we  must  be  will- 
ing to  leave  something.  There  are  a  good  many  of  us 
willing  to  be  disciples  of  the  Lord  if  it  don't  cost  anything. 
If  they  can  just  swing  their  bag  across  their  back  with  the 
fish  in  it  and  follow  Christ,  then  they  are  willing  to  follow 
Him — to  be  one  of  His  disciples.  Now  the  Lord  wanted 
them  to  give  up  something.     They  might  have  said  : 

"  We  have  been  fishing  a  great  while  in  the  lake  ;  busi- 
ness is  pretty  poor,  and  we  might  as  well  give  up  this 
business  and  go  into  this." 

But  no,  the  Lord  didn't  call  them  until  after  they  had 
success.  Now  a  great  many  men  in  Boston  are  willing  to 
come  to  Christ,  willing  to  follow  Christ,  if  they  can  only 
do  it  without  any  sacrifice.  They  don't  want  to  give  up, 
perhaps,  some  amusement,  or  some  life  that  they  have 
been  leading,  that  is  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  Per- 
haps a  man  is  selling  rum,  and  says,  "If  I  can  only  keep 
on  selling  rum  like  I  have  been,  I  will  follow  the  Lord  ; 
but  I  don't  want  to  give  up  my  business."  Now,  my 
brethren,  if  it  is  unlawful  business,  you  have  got  to  go  out 
of  it ;  you  have  got  to  give  it  up,  before  you  can  become  a 
true  disciple  of  God.  And  you  are  not  to  leave  your  busi- 
ness unless  Christ  calls  you  out  to  preach  ;  but  it  must 
not  be  your  will  first.  Christ  nmst  have  the  first  place  in 
your  heart  in  regard  to  that.  Now  after  they  had  had 
success,  He  put  the   test  to  these  men,  whether  they  were 


282  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

willing  to  give  up  their  nets  and  follow  Him.  Now  some 
time  after  that,  Peter  says,  "  We  have  left  everything  to 
follow  thee."  What  did  he  leave  ?  Why,  a  few  old  broken 
nets  !  And  it  is  just  so  now.  People  leave  a  few  old 
broken  nets,  and  then  say  to  the  Lord,  "We  have  left 
everything  to  follow  thee  ! "  But  I  tell  you  we  must  leave 
everything — everything — before  we  can  say,  "  Lord,  we 
have  left  everything  to  follow  thee."  The  next  glimpse 
we  catch  of  Peter  he  takes  a  doubting  character.  You 
will  find,  if  you  read  it  over,  that  it  is  our  experience  right 
over  again.  He  got  to  doubting.  In  the  14th  chapter  of 
Matthew,  2 2d  verse,  you  will  find  these  words  : 

"  And  straightway  Jesus  constrained  his  disciples  to 
get  into  a  ship,  and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side, 
while  he  sent  the  multitudes  away. 

"  And  when  he  had  sent  the  multitudes  away,  he  went 
up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray  :  and  when  the  evening 
was  come,  he  was  there  alone. 

"  But  the  ship  was  now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed 
with  waves  :  for  the  wind  was  contrary. 

"  And  in  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night  Jesus  went  unto 
them,  walking  on  the  sea. 

"  And  when  the  disciples  saw  him  walking  on  the  sea, 
they  were  troubled,  saying,  It  is  a  spirit  \  and  they  cried 
out  for  fear. 

"  But  straightway  Jesus  spake  unto  them,  saying.  Be  of 
good  cheer ;  it  is  I ;  be  not  afraid. 

"  And  Peter  answered  him  and  said.  Lord,  if  it  be  thou, 
bid  me  come  unto  thee  on  the  water. 

"And  he  said,  Come.  And  when  Peter  was  come 
down  out  of  the  ship,  he  walked  on  the  water,  to  go  to 
Jesus." 

Now,  that  took  faith.  The  idea  of  his  just  letting  go 
of  the  boat,  and  stepping  down  into  the  water.  Why,  that 
took  faith.  And  there  are  a  great  many  men  to-day  will- 
ing to  become  Christians  if  they  can  only  just  see  how 
they  are  going  to  walk.  They  want  to  walk  by  sight. 
They  don't  want  to  walk  by  faith.     It  took  faith  for  Peter 


THE  LIFE  AA'D  CHARACTER  OF  PETER.         283 

to  let  go  of  the  boat  and  take  the  first  step  on  the  water, 
but  the  Lord  had  bid  him  to  do  it,  and  he  just  did  it ;  but 
after  he  began  to  sink  he  began  to  doubt,  and  called  on 
the  Lord  to  save  him.  And  that  is  just  where  the  thou- 
sands of  Christians  get  into  trouble  now.  They  are  Mailing 
to  trust  in  God  just  so  far,  but  when  they  begin  to  sink 
they  begin  to  doubt,  and  cry  to  the  Lord  to  save  them. 
Peter  began  to  doubt.     Just  see  what  it  says  : 

'■'  But  when  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid  ; 
and  beginning  to  sink,  he  cried,  saying,  Lord,  save  me." 

See,  he  began  to  sink  when  he  took  his  eyes  off  his 
Master.  He  didn't  trust  in  Him.  He  didn't  have  perfect 
faith.       Now  the  Lord   says    in  Isaiah,   26th  chapter  3d 


"Thou  will  keep /«;;2  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  w 
stayed  on  thee :  because  he  trusteth  in  thee." 

Peter  didn't  have  perfect  faith,  because  his  mind  wasn't 
stayed  on  Christ ;  he  didn't  trust  in  Him.  If  he  had 
trusted  in  the  Lord  he  would  not  have  sunk.  The  ship 
was  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  the  wind  was  blowing  quite  a 
gale,  and  the  waves  were  rolling  high,  and  he  began  to 
tremble  and  doubt,  and  down  he  went.  And  a  good 
many  Christians  follow  his  example.  When  it  gets  dark, 
when  the  wind  begins  to  blow,  when  the  water  rolls  high 
about  them,  they  begin  to  doubt  and  down  they  go.  Some 
one  says  if  Peter  had  as  long  a  preamble  to  his  prayer  as 
most  people,  he  would  have  been  forty  feet  under  water 
before  he  got  through  praying  for  what  he  wanted.  Now, 
just  read  a  little  further. 

"  And  immediately  Jesus  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and 
caught  him,  and  said  unto  him,  O  thou  of  little  faith, 
wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  1  " 

See,  the  Lord   says,  "What  did  you  doubt  for.?"     You 


284 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


had  got  my  Word,  and  that  was  enough.  If  you  had  just 
trusted  in  Me,  you  wouldn't  have  sunk.  "  Wherefore  didst 
thou  doubt.?'" 

But  I  want  to  pass  rapidly  over  this  portion  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  get  at  something  which,  perhaps,  may 
be  of  more  help  to  us  than  anything  here.  In  the  T6th 
chapter  of  Matthew,  24th  verse,  we  find  that  he  was  willing 
to  confess  Christ  as  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  Now  a 
great  many  men  want  to  be  disciples  of  Christ,  but  they  are 
not  willing  to  confess  Him. 

"Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples.  If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  crois, 
and  follow  me." 

I  believe  there  are  hundreds  of  people  now  that  are 
trying  secretly  to  serve  the  Lord  ;  but  they  don't  want  to 
let  their  families  know  it ;  they  don't  want  their  friends  to 
know  it.  To  go  home  and  tell  your  friends  that  you  want 
to  be  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — that  takes  a 
good  deal  of  moral  courage.  But  it  took  more  then  than 
it  does  now,  for  the  Jews  said  that  any  man  who  should 
confess  Christ  should  be  cast  out  of  the  synagogue. 

"When  Jesus  came  into  the  coasts  of  Cassarea  Philippi, 
he  asked  his  disciples,  saying  :  Whom  do  men  say  that  1, 
the  Son  of  man  am .? 

"  And  they  said,  Some  say  that  thou  art  John  the  Bap- 
tist ;  some,  Elias ;  and  others  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the 
prophets. 

"  He  saith  unto  them.  But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am  ? " 

"Who  do  you  think  lam?"  He  says.  "  You  have 
told  Me  what  the  people  say  ;  but  who  do  you  think  I 
am  ?  "  And  Peter — he  most  always  spoke  first — he  speaks 
out,  and  says  : 

"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God. 

"  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Blessed  art 
thou,  Simon  Bar-jona  :  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  reveal- 
ed //  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER  285 

See,  He  just  blessed  him  right  there,  and  I  have  yet  to 
find  the  first  man  or  the  first  woman  who  is  willing  to  con- 
fess Christ  who  won't  say  that  God  has  blessed  their  souls 
after  they  have  confessed  Him.  The  other  day  there  was 
a  man  converted  here,  and  he  went  home  and  told  his  wife, 
went  home  and  confessed  Christ,  and  he  came  down  to-day 
in  the  business  prayer-meetings,  and  said  he  got  Christ's 
blessing  after  he  had  gone  home  and  told  his  wife.  In  the 
loth  chapter  of  Romans  and  loth  verse  we  find  : 

*'  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness  ; 
and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation." 

Confession  and  salvation  !  The  two  go  together.  If 
we  are  going  to  be  saved,  the  Lord  says,  we  have  got  to 
confess  now.  I  know  some  young  converts  get  into  dark- 
ness because  they  have  been  ashamed  to  confess  Christ. 
They  have  got  into  a  society  where  scoffers  and  infidels 
say  about  the  Church  of  God,  "  Why,  nobody  but  weak- 
minded  people  go  there ; "  and  so  they  are  ashamed  to 
confess  Christ.  And  here  is  Peter  confessing  that  "  Thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  There  are  a 
great  many  in  Boston  who  tell  us  that  Christ  is  not  the  Son 
of  the  living  God  any  more  than  anyone  of  us  is  ;  that  He 
is  not  from  the  Father ;  that  He  was  not  with  God  when 
the  morning  stars  sang  together  ;  that  He  didn't  volunteer 
to  leave  heaven  and  come  down  to  die  for  us.  You  and 
I  believe  He  did.  Let  us  confess  it  and  speak  it  out,  and 
not  be  ashamed  to  speak  of  and  confess  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  has  the  power  of  salvation.  If  He  has  re- 
deemed us,  let  us  not  be  ashamed  to  speak  for  Him  and  to 
confess  Him. 

Now  let  me  call  your  attention  to  another  scene  in  His  ' 
life.     Peter  got  to  be  a  sort  of  a — well,  I  might  say  a  sort 
of  "  high  church  "  man.    He  belonged  to  the  "  high  church." 
He  was   a  sort  of  Ritualist.     He  had   got  this  idea  that 


286  TO  ALL  FEOPLE. 

Christ  was  the  same  as  any  other  saint ;  that  He  was  to  be 
put  on  a  level  with  some  of  the  rest  of  the  saints.  He 
didn't  make  any  distinction.  In  the  9th  chapter  of  Luke 
we  find  that  Christ  took  His  disciples  and  went  up  into  a 
mountain  to  pray.     In  the  28th  verse  it  says  : 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  about  an  eight  days  aflc"  these 
sayings^  he  took  Peter  and  John  and  James,  and  went  up 
into  a  mountain  to  pray. 

"  And  as  he  prayed,  the  fashion  of  his  countenance 
was  altered,  and  his  raiment  was  white  and  glistering. 

"  And,  behold,  there  talked  with  him  two  men,  which 
were  Moses  and  Elias  : 

"  Who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake  of  his  decease 
which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 

"  But  Peter  and  they  that  were  with  him  were  heavy 
with  sleep  :  and  when  they  were  awake,  they  saw  his  glory, 
and  the  two  men  that  stood  with  him. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  departed  from  him, 
Peter  said  unto  Jesus,  Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here  : 
and  let  us  make  three  tabernacles ;  one  for  thee,  and 
one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias  :  not  knowing  what  he 
said." 

See,  he  wanted  to  put  Jesus  on  a  level  with  Moses  and 
Elias.  To  be  sure,  Moses  was  a  mighty  man.  He  went 
into  the  mountain  and  took  the  law  from  the  Lord  God  of 
heaven,  and  Elias  was  a  representative  of  the  prophets  and 
a  mighty  man  ;  but  when  Peter  wanted  to  put  them  on  a 
level  with  the  God-man,  with  Jesus,  what  took  place  ?  Why 
there  came  a  cloud  which  overshadowed  them.  God  caught 
them  right  away.  God  would  not  have  them  placing  Moses 
and  Elias  on  a  level  with  His  Son.  He  is  above  the  angels 
of  heaven  ;  and  we  find  over  here,  in  the  last  chapter  of 
the  Bible,  and  in  almost  the  last  verse  in  it,  that  John  was 
guilty  of  the  same  thing,  of  worshipping  angels.  It  says 
over  here,  in  2 2d  of  Revelations  and  8th  verse  : 

"  And  I  John  saw  these  things,  and  heard  them.  And 
when  I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down  to  worship  before 
the  feet  of  the  angel  which  showed  me  these  things. 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER.  287 

"  Then  saith  he  unto  me,  See  thou  do  it  not :  for  I  am 
thy  fellowservant,  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and 
of  them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book:  worship 
God." 

Now,  if  Jesus  was  not  the  God-man,  if  he  was  not  God 
in  the  flesh,  then  you  and  I  are  guilty  of  idolatry — we  are 
breaking  the  first  command,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
God  before  Me."  We  have  no  right  to  worship  Jesus 
Christ ;  but  when  He  came  down  here  He  said,  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  And  He  never  rebuked  any  one  for  wor- 
shipping Him.  But  John  fell  down  and  worshipped  that 
angel  and  the  angel  refused  to  let  him  ;  and  when  Peter 
wanted  to  put  Elias  and  Moses  on  a  level  with  Christ,  God, 
the  Father,  spoke  and  said,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son. 
Hear  ye  him."  No  matter  about  Elias  now.  No  matter 
about  Moses  now.  Hear  Him.  He  is  the  one  that  God 
wants  all  of  us  here  to  worship  ;  and  when  we  think  of  the 
millions  and  millions  that  have  been  guilty  of  idolatry,  O, 
my  friends,  how  I  wish  that  they  had  had  this  blessed  Son 
of  God  to  worship  !  Oh,  God  hates  that  sin  of  idolatry.  He 
hates  it  above  all  other  sins  ;  and  how  God  would  punish 
us  if  we  were  guilty  of  that  sin.  That  is  a  strong  expres- 
sion, it  seems  to  me,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God, 
and  that  He  was  manifested  in  the  flesh.  But  let  us  pass 
on  to  the  6th  chapter  of  John  and  68th  and  69th  verses, 
where  we  find  the  following  assurance.  Now  some  one 
says  we  can't  know  down  here  whether  we  are  safe  or 
not.     Well,  now,  we  have  an  assurance  right  here  : 

"  Then  Simon  Peter  answered  him.  Lord,  to  whom  shall 
we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life. 

"  And  we  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God." 

We  are  sure  of  it,  "  that  thou  art  the  Son  of  the  living 
God,"     Now  I  will  call  your  attention  to  his  faults.  If  you 


288  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

will  just  turn  over  here  into  the  22d  chapter  of  Luke  you 
will  find  there  a  fault.  In  the  33d  verse  of  the  22d  chapter 
of  Luke  you  will  find  the  following  : 

"  And  he  said  unto  him,  Lord,  I  am  ready  to  go  with 
thee,  both  into  prison,  and  to  death. 

"  And  he  said,  I  tell  thee,  Peter,  the  cock  shall  not  crow 
this  day,  before  that  thou  shalt  thrice  deny  that  thou  know- 
est  me. 

"  And  he  said  unto  them,  When  I  sent  you  without  purse, 
and  scrip,  and  shoes,  lacked  ye  anything  ?  And  they  said, 
Nothing." 

Now  here  we  find  Peter's  fault  of  self-confidence. 
That  was  really  his  besetting  sin,  and  when  the  Lord  told 
him  that  the  cock  should  not  crow  twice  before  he  had 
denied  Him  thrice,  he  ought  to  have  believed  the  words  of 
Christ  and  cried  for  help  ;  but  no,  he  was  very  self-confi- 
dent. "Why,"  says  he,  "if  the  rest  of  the  disciples  deny 
you  I  won't  deny  you."  He  not  only  said  he  wouldn't 
betray  Him,  but  he  even  went  and  tried  to  make  the  rest 
worse  by  comparison.  If  you  meet  a  man  full  of  conceit 
and  self-confidence,  you  may  look  for  that  man's  downfall. 
Men  that  have  stood  the  highest,  really,  in  Scripture,  have 
often  fallen  on  their  strongest  point.  Moses  was  noted  for 
his  humility.  Right  there  he  fell.  He  got  angry  instead 
of  being  humble,  and  fell  through  lack  of  humility.  Elijah 
was  noted  for  his  boldness.  Right  there  he  fell.  Why,  he 
stood  on  Mount  Carmel  and  defied  the  whole  nation.  He 
stood  there  alone.  He  seemed  to  be  the  boldest  man  in 
the  whole  nation  ;  but  a  little  after  he  got  word  that 
Jezebel  was  going  to  take  his  life.  Then  he  lost  all  his 
boldness  and  got  scared  of  one  woman. 

There  was  Samson,  who  was  noted  for  his  strength,  and 
he  lost  his  hair  wherein  his  strength  consisted,  but  he  re- 
covered it  again.  They  cut  off  his  hair ;  but  they  didn't 
cut  it  off  at  the  roots,  and  it  gr£w  out  again.  Abraham  was 
noted  for  his  faith.     But  he  got  into  Egypt  and  denied  his 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER.         289 

wife.  There  is  only  one  time,  I  am  told,  that  Edinburgh 
Castle  was  ever  taken  by  the  enemy,  and  that  was  by 
climbing  on  the  back  rocks.  The  rocks  were  so  steep  that 
they  thought  they  could  not  get  in  that  way,  and  that's  just 
where  they  got  in.  I  used  to  think  when  I  had  been  a 
Christian  ten  or  twelve  years  I  should  be  so  strong  that 
there  would  be  no  danger  of  my  ever  being  tempted,  but  I 
find  that  I  was  blind,  that  I  have  more  temptations  now 
than  I  ever  had  before,  and  that  it  takes  twenty  times  as 
nmch  grace  to  keep  me  now  than  it  ever  did.  Let  every  man 
take  heed  lest  he  fall.  We  cannot  tell  how  quick  we  may 
fall  if  we  are  not  kept  by  the  grace  of  God.  Peter  had  to 
learn  this  lesson  before  he  went  out  to  preach  to  others. 
He  was  kept  by  the  grace  of  God  if  he  could  not  keep  him- 
self. Well,  I've  got  right  here  two  faults  of  the  Apostle. 
When  the  Lord  told  him  he  should  deny  Him  thrice,  he 
ought  to  have  trembled  and  cried,  Lord,  keep  me  from 
denying  Thee!  But  no,  he  said,  "Lord,  I  am  not  going  to 
deny  You,  if  the  rest  do."  I  am  not  going  to  den}-'  You. 
Here  is  Mr.  Pentecost,  he  may  den}'-  You.  Here  is  Mr. 
Bates,  he  may  deny  Y"ou.  And  here  is  Mr.  Sankey,  he  may 
deny  You,  but  I  am  not.  Just  see  where  he  stands  !  He 
stands  on  a  slippery  place  and  it  won't  be  long  before  he 
will  be  down.  You  ask  why  it  is  that  some  ministers  fall  ? 
It  is  because  they  are  too  self-confident.  They  think  they 
can  stand.  They  are  independent  ;  they  don't  lean  on  God, 
and  that's  why  they  fall.  If  a  man  gets  his  eye  off  of  God, 
and  relies  on  his  own  strength,  you  may  look  for  his  fall. 
Now  the  next  step  is — men  don't  generally  go  up  on  some 
great  pinnacle  and  jump  off.  If  a  man  is  going  to  come 
down  he  comes  down  step  by  step.  We  don't  backslide  all 
of  a  sudden.  We  backslide  gradually.  But  be  sure  it 
comes.  Sometimes  you  think  a  man  comes  down  all  at 
once,  but  yet  you  will  find,  if  you  get  at  the  truth,  that  these 
men  who  seem  to  have  backslidden  from  God  all  of  a  sud- 

19 


290  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

den  have  commenced  months  and  months  ago.  They 
didn't  go  in  their  closets  and  pray.  They  didn't  keep  their 
eyes  on  God.  Tliey  got  asleep.  And  you  know  when  the 
devil  gets  a  man  asleep  he  can  get  him  to  do  most  every- 
thing. Oh,  how  many  times  has  the  Lord  been  betrayed  by 
His  own  professed  friends  !  Some  one  says  Satan  isn't 
very  high.  When  he  wanted  some  one  to  betray  Christ,  he 
took  Caiaphas,  one  of  the  very  highest  priests.  If  the  devil 
can  only  silence  a  man  that  is  useful  and  one  that  is  call- 
ing many  to  Christ,  why,  he  is  accomplishing  a  great  victory 
for  himself.  So  we  must  keep  very  humble  and  keep  our 
eye  on  the  Master  and  see  that  we  don't  get  asleep.  If  we 
do  get  asleep,  then  it  won't  be  long  before  we  deny  Him. 
And  so  we  find  that  when  Christ  was  down  in  the  garden, 
sweating  great  drops  of  blood.  He  knew  He  was  hastening 
to  death  on  the  cross.  Peter  went  to  sleep.  And  when 
He  came  back.  He  said,  '"Why  sleep  ye?  Rise  and  pray 
lest  ye  enter  into  temptation."  He  had  been  with  the  Lord 
three  years,  but  he  had  to  sleep.  The  next  that  happens, 
for  that  second  step  down  we  find  that  Peter  fighteth  in 
the  flesh.  When  they  came  to  arrest  Christ,  Peter  took  out 
his  sword  and  cut  off  the  servant's  ear.  Do  you  know  that 
that  was  the  only  person  that  ever  suffered  through  the 
followers  of  Christ  up  to  that  time.  Peter  cut  the  ear  off, 
but  it  didn't  stay  off  a  great  while,  for  it  got  back  in  just 
about  five  minutes.  And  the  Lord  Jesus  cried  out,  "  Peter, 
pick  up  your  sword.  If  I  wanted  to  defend  Myself,  I  could 
call  70,000  angels  down;  I  could  call  legions  of  angels 
down  ;  I  could  defend  Myself  if  I  wanted  to."  But,  no  ; 
He  didn't  do  that.  He  had  to  rebuke  Peter,  to  put  a  thorn 
in  his  flesh.  When  people  get  to  sleep,  then  they  get  up  a 
church  quarrel.  That's  just  the  trouble.  If  these  Chris- 
tians have  their  consciences  gone  to  sleep,  they  don't  miss 
anything  in  the  way  of  worldly  pleasure.  If  they  want  to 
get  up  a  church  dance,  or  go  to  theatres,  very  well,  and  the 


THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PETER.         291 

devil  helps  them.  He  knows  very  well  that  if  they  get  up 
church  dances  they  won't  go  to  prayer-meetings,  and  that 
if  they  believe  in  theatres  they  won't  believe  there's  very 
much  difference  between  the  theatre  and  the  church.  Per- 
haps while  they  are  at  the  theatre  their  sons  are  at  some 
place  of  vice  going  to  bring  their  fathers  and  mothers  down 
to  ruin.  But  Satan  has  got  them  to  sleep  so  sound  th?:t 
they  don't  know  it.  Oh,  my  friends^  let  us  be  sure  that 
Satan  don't  get  us  to  sleep.  Some  people  say  there  is  no 
devil,  but  that  is  just  what  Satan  wants  us  to  believe.  A 
great  many  men  are  under  the  power  of  the  devil  to-day, 
but  they  don't  believe  there  is  one.  But  he  is  there  just 
the  same.  The  next  thing  that  Peter  did,  he  followed  Him 
afar  off — and  that  is  the  next  step.  When  a  man  gets  away 
from  Christ,  then  it  won't  be  long  before  he  follows  Him 
afar  off.  You  know  Peter  said^  at  first,  he  would  keep 
close  to  Him.  "  I  will  stand  by  you ;  I  am  willing  to  die 
with  you,"  he  said.  But  now  Peter  changed  his  mind,  and 
followed  him  afar  off.  Oh,  how  many  professed  Christians 
in  Boston  are  following  Christ  afar  off  !  Do  you  know  that 
we  suffer  more  from  that  class  of  people  than  we  do  from 
any  other?  None  of  these  unconverted  people,  that  are 
unconvicted,  and  against  the  Church  of  God,  do  as  much 
harm  to  the  church — don't  hurt  us  half  so  much  as  these 
worldly-minded  Christians  that  are  following  Him  afar 
off.  Well,  the  next  thing,  we  find  that  Peter  is  in  bad 
company.  That's  another  step  down.  He'd  got  down 
pretty  low,  now.  When  you  see  a  man  getting  into  bad 
company — and  you'll  find  a  good  many  here  in  Boston, 
that  profess  to  be  Christians,  that  are  in  bad  company — 
he'll  be  scoffing  and  making  light  of  God  in  his  conversa- 
tion, and  yet  they  don't  dare  talk  right  out  against  it.  They 
are  in  the  company  of  those  who  don't  believe  that  these 
things  are  going  to  be  swept  away  by  the  mighty  power 
of  God.     They  don't  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  going  to 


292  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

save  men  suddenly.  They  think  it  is  a  gradual  work. 
They  believe,  they  say,  it  takes  a  good  many  years  to  con- 
vert a  man,  and  they  first  join  with  the  ungodly  people. 
You  will  find  them  associating  with  those  that  are  enemies 
to  the  grace  of  God.  There  was  a  friend  of  mine  in  Phila- 
delphia going  by  a  drinking  saloon  one  night,  and  he  saw 
in  that  saloon  a  professed  Christian  playing  cards.  He 
just  took  his  pencil,  wrote  on  a  card,  and  saw  a  little  boy, 
and  says,  "  My  boy,  here  is  some  money.  I  want  you  to 
do  an  errand  for  me.  You  see  that  man  on  the  side  of  the 
table  where  those  three  are  playing  cards,  with  them  .'* " 
Says  he,  "Yes,  I  do."  "Well,"  says  my  friend,  "just 
take  that  card  to  him."  The  boy  started,  and  my  friend 
watched  him  when  he  handed  this  card  to  him.  What  was 
written  on  the  card  was,  "  Ye  are  my  witnesses."  The  man 
took  the  card,  looked  at  it,  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  rushed 
out  into  the  street  and  asked  the  boy  where  the  card  came 
from.  The  boy  said,  "  A  man  over  there  gave  it  to  me." 
But  the  man  had  slipped  away,  and  the  poor  fellow  died  a 
few  months  afterwards.  "  Ye  are  my  witnesses."  Where- 
ever  you  find  a  professed  Christian  going  in  bad  company, 
you  may  look  for  something  worse.  A  young  lady  comes 
in,  looks  at  Peter  and  says,  "  This  man  is  one  of  His  dis- 
ciples." "No,  I  am  not;  no,  not  I,"  he  says.  The  maid 
cries  out  at  him  in  perfect  amazement  (perhaps  she  had 
heard  him  preach  some  time),  and  she  says,  "  You  are  one 
of  His  disciples,"     "  Oh,  no ;  no,  not  I,"  says  Peter. 

He  didn't  know  Jesus.  Jesus  was  right  there  inside, 
and  he  could  see  Him,  and  yet  this  man,  who  was  so  bold 
didn't  know  Him  !  Another  man  comes  and  says:  "You 
are  one  of  His  disciples."  "  No,  sir  ;  not  I  ;  I  don't  know 
Him  ;  no,  sir."  You  see  he  had  got  a  good  ways  off.  The 
man  says  :  "  You  are."  "  No,  I  am  not,"  says  Peter.  He 
denies  his  Lord.  And  about  an  hour  after  he  has  denied 
Him,  another  man  came  up  and  said  :  "  You   are   one   oi 


THE  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF  PETER. 


293 


His  disciples."  "  No,"  says  Peter,  "  I  am  not."  "  Oh, 
but  you  are,"  says  the  man,  "  your  speech  betrays  you." 
He  had  been  with  the  Master  three  years,  and  talked  a 
different  language  from  those  men  ;  and  you  who  have 
been  with  God  two  or  three  years  know  that  you  talk  bet- 
ter than  you  did  before.  A  good  many  of  those  back- 
sliders when  they  get  into  bad  company  talk  different  than 
they  do  when  they  are  in  the  fold  of  God.  This  man  said, 
"you  are  one  of  those,"  and  he  began  to  curse  and  swear, 
and  said  he  never  knew  Him.  How  did  the  Lord  call  him 
back  ?  Although  Satan  had  been  to  work  on  him  for  hours 
and  hours,  yet  the  Lord  called  him  back,  and  says,  "  Peter, 
is  it  true  ;  have  you  forgotten  me  so  soon  ?  Do  you  re- 
member when  we  walked  together  by  the  sea,  how  I  saved 
you  ?  Do  you  remember  the  time  I  called  you  again  ? 
Do  you  remember  that  wonderful  sermon  that  I  preached 
on  the  mount  t  Is  it  true,  Peter,  that  you  don't  know  me  ? " 
He  might  have  said  that  to  Iiim  \  but  no.  He  didn't.  He 
just  gave  him  one  look,  and  what  a  look  it  was — a  look  of 
love,  a  look  of  tenderness,  a  look  of  pity,  a  look  of  peace. 
He  flashed  upon  Peter.  He  remembered  what  he  had : 
done  to  the  Lord  ;  and  the  cock  crew  and  Peter  went  out 
and  wept  bitterly.  Poor  backslider,  I  hope  He  will  give 
you  one  look.  If  there  are  any  in  this  house  who  are  like 
Peter  may  they  settle  it  before  they  leave.  Peter  went  out 
and  wept  bitterly.  No  one  on  earth  knows  how  Peter 
suffered  in  those  hours  that  Christ  was  laid  in  the  tomb. 
Oh,  what  hours  they  must  have  been  to  him  !  I  can  imagine 
that  he  didn't  eat  anything  ;  I  can  imagine  that  he  didn't 
sleep  ;  that  he  spent  those  hours  praying  that  the  Lord 
might  be  given  back  to  him.  At  last  Sunday  morning  comes, 
that  blessed  morning,  and  the  first  thing  that  Peter  hears  is 
that  Christ  had  risen.  And  He  sent  word — one  of  the  most 
touching  things  that  He  did  was  to  send  word  to  Peter — ^ 
jnst  let  me  read  from  the  i6th  of  Mark  and  the  7th  verse. 


294  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"  But  go  your  way,  tell  his  disciples  and  Peter,  that 
he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee ;  there  shall  ye  see  him, 
as  he  said  unto  you." 

Oh,  how  tender !  I  don't  know  but  if  He  had  said, 
"  Go  back  and  tell  My  disciples,"  Peter  would  have  said, 
"  I  am  no  disciple,  I  have  forfeited  my  right  as  such,"  but 
He  said,  "Tell  My  disciples  and  Peter  T  Tell  Peter  ;  put 
his  name  in  ;  don't  leave  him  out. 

We  are  told  that  Christ  had  an  interview  with  Peter, 
and  they  met  alone.  No  one  ever  told  us  what  took  place, 
but  I  can  imagine  how  Peter  felt.  Like  the  woman  that 
we  read  about  in  the  7th  chapter  of  Matthew,  He  restored 
him  to  salvation  and  then  sent  him  out  to  preach.  But 
when  the  twelve  were  at  meat  together  the  Lord  turned 
to  Peter  and  said  "  Lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ? " 
How  those  words  must  have  cut  down  into  his  heart.  He 
wanted  to  see  if  his  conceit  had  been  taken  out.  That  was 
hard,  you  know.  He  couldn't  get  anything  out  of  Peter. 
Peter  didn't  say  a  word.  Again  the  Lord  said  "  Peter, 
lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  "  He  was  a  broken  and 
empty  vessel  and  must  be  filled.  Then  he  said  "  Go  feed 
my  sheep  ;  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  the  world."  Oh,  this 
is  a  sweet  thought,  that  after  he  had  denied  the  Lord,  the 
Lord  took  him  back  and  used  him  !  If  there  is  a  poor 
backslider  here  to-night,  who  has  wandered  far  away  into 
the  fields  of  unbelief,  return  and  let  Him  forgive  you  and 
come  back  into  the  fold.  May  the  God  of  Peter  bring 
every  wanderer  back  this  afternoon,  and  may  the  Saviour 
shed  His  loving  care  and  protection  over  you  !  Oh,  my 
friends,  what  has  He  done  to  you  ?  Has  He  been  untrue 
to  you  ?  Has  He  done  anything  to  cause  you  to  wander  ? 
Oh,  may  you  all  come  unto  Him,  and  lean  upon  His  bosom 
and  enjoy  His  peace  and  blessing  all  the  rest  of  your 
days  ! 


SOWING  AND  REAPING.  I. 


You  will  find  my  text  in  the  6th  chapter  of  Gal- 
atians,  the  7th  and  8th  verses :  "  Be  not  deceived, 
God  is  not  mocked ;  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap  ;  for  he  that  soweth  to  the  flesh  shall  of 
the  flesh  reap  corruption  ;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the  spirit 
shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life  everlasting."  There  are  a  good 
many  men  quarrelling  with  the  Word  of  God  now-a-days, 
but  I  think  all  will  admit  that  this  text  is  true.  I  don't 
believe  there  is  an  infidel,  if  he  will  be  honest,  but  will 
admit  that  whatsoever  a  man  sows  that  he  must  reap. 
Now  it  says,  "  Be  not  deceived !  "  most  of  us  know  what  it 
is  to  be  deceived.  We  have  been  deceived  by  a  great 
many  who  professed  to  be  our  friends,  just  as  David  had  a 
bosom  companion  by  whom  he  was  deceived.  I  heard  of 
a  man  who  came  to  these  meetings  and  went  out  and 
made  his  boast  that  he  had  got  some  money  out  of  the 
people  here  to  get  whiskey.  He  asked  for  it  to  get  bread, 
and  he  made  his  boast  that  he  had  used  this  deception. 
Well,  that  is  a  very  easy  thing  ;  we  can  deceive  one  an- 
other and  we  can  be  deceived.  Our  own  hearts  very  often 
deceive  us — they  are  deceitful  above  all  things  and  des- 
perately wicked.  But  let  us  keep  in  mind  that  although  it 
is  easy  to  deceive  one  another  and  to  be  deceived  by  others, 
there  is  one  thing  we  cannot  do — we  cannot  deceive  God. 
A  man  may  degrade  his  profession  ;  he  may  do  as  Judas 
did,  he  may  make  a  great  profession  and  be  an  officer  in 
the  church,  and  yet  be  false  at  heart — yea,  it  may  be  that 

he  will  get  into  the  pulpit  and   preach  the  gospel,  and  yet 

295 


2^6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

be  untrue  at  heart.  Now,  God  knows  us  all ;  there  is 
nothing  we  have  ever  said  or  done  but  it  is  all  in  the  mind 
of  God.  We  may  have  covered  it  up  ;  we  may  have  for- 
gotten ;  but  it  will  all  come  to  light  some  day,  because  we 
cannot  deceive  God.  Now  I  want  to  divide  this  text  into 
four  parts,  not  that  I  am  going  to  speak  on  the  divisions. 
When  a  man  sows  in  the  natural  world  he  expects  to  reap. 
You  will  see  the  farmers  out  in  their  fields  in  a  few  days 
sowing,  and  they  will  all  expect  to  reap.  Not  a  man  that 
goes  out  to  sow  but  expects  a  harvest.  Another  thing — • 
they  will  expect  to  reap  more  than  they  sow.  And  they 
will  expect  to  reap  the  same  as  they  sow.  If  they  sow 
wheat  they  will  expect  to  reap  wheat.  If  they  sow  oats 
they  won't  expect  to  gather  watermelons.  If  they  plant 
an  apple  tree  they  don't  look  for  peaches  on  it.  If  they 
plant  a  grape-vine  they  expect  to  find  grapes,  not  pumpkins. 
They  will  look  for  just  the  very  seed  they  sow.  Let  me 
say  right  here  that  ignorance  of  what  they  sowed  will  make 
no  difference  in  the  reaping.  It  wouldn't  do  for  a  man  to 
say,  "  I  didn't  know  but  what  it  was  wheat  I  was  sowing, 
when  I  sowed  tares."  That  makes  no  difference.  You 
have  got  to  know.  If  I  go  out  and  sow  tares  thinking  that 
it's  wheat,  I've  got  to  gather  tares  all  the  same.  That  is  a 
universal  law.  If  a  man  learns  the  carpenter's  trade  he 
don't  expect  to  be  a  watchmaker,  he  expects  to  be  a  car- 
penter. The  man  who  goes  to  college  and  studies  hard, 
expects  to  reap  for  those  long  years  of  toil  and  labor.  It 
is  the  same  in  the  spiritual  world.  Whatsoever  a  man  or 
a  nation  sows  he  and  they  must  reap.  This  nation  planted 
slavery  here  in  this  land,  with  an  open  Bible  before  it. 
They  knew  it  was  wrong,  and  the  nation  had  to  reap  for 
what  they  sowed,  and  to-night  nearly  half  a  million  of  men 
lie  in  soldiers'  graves.  Look  at  the  nations  that  have  for- 
gotten God.  Where  is  Nineveh  ?  Where  is  Jerusalem  ? 
Where  is  Babvlon  ?     Those  nations  went  on  sowing  to  the 


SOWING  AND   REAPING.     I.  297 

flesh  and  they  had  to  reap  it.  The  reaping  time  came. 
Men  may  think  God  is  winking  at  sin  now-a-days,  and  isn't 
going  to  punish  sin,  because  He  does  not  execute  His 
judgments  speedily,  but  "  be  not  deceived,  God  is  not 
mocked,  and  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  reap." 
Look  at  the  life  of  David.  It  seems  to  me  there  is  not  a  | 
character  in  the  whole  Bible  that  makes  me  hate  sin  like 
that  life  of  David,  and  yet  men  laugh  at  that  sin  of  David, 
and  seem  to  think  David  went  unpunished.  It  seems  to 
me  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  whole  world  of  God  that  was 
punished  like  David  was.  You  know  he  fell  into  grievous 
sin,  not  only  committed  adultery,  but  murder  And  he 
went  on  for  months,  and  the  skeptics  there  that  knew  it 
laughed  and  said:  "Ah!  God  don't  punish  sin.  Look  at 
David,  living  in  luxury  and  ease  at  his  palace.  God  don't 
punish  him."  And  for  months  it  seemed  as  though  God 
was  not  going  to  punish  him.  But  at  last  Nathan  came 
and  drew  that  picture  for  him  and  told  him,  "  Thou  art  [ 
the  man,"  and  the  prophet  told  him  that  the  Lord  had  put 
away  his  sin,  but,  "  nevertheless,  I  will  raise  up  a  sword  in 
thy  family."  David  had  committed  adultery,  and  his 
eldest  son  committed  adultery  with  his  own  daughter. 
Absalom,  his  favorite  son,  murdered  and  slew  one  of  his 
own  sons.  Ah !  be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked. 
David  had  to  reap  what  he  sowed.  Not  only  so,  but 
David  rebelled  against  God,  and  we  find  Absalom  driving 
David  from  his  throne,  and  look  at  him  as  he  leaves  the 
city  and  goes  up  Mount  Olivet  weeping — he  knew  what  it 
was  for.  Bear  in  mind  that  God  is  going  to  punish  sin 
wherever  he  finds  it.  If  he  finds  it  in  you  and  me,  He  is 
going  to  punish  us,  if  we  don't  turn  from  it  and  plead  for 
mercy.  This  idea  that  God  ain't  going  to  punish  sin,  that 
there  is  no  future  retribution,  that  men  can  go  on  lying 
and  stealing  and  murdering,  and  yet  not  be  punished,  is 
false.     They  are  going   to  be  punished  in  just  the   same 


298  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

proportion  as  these  men  who  go  out  to  sow  afterwards 
reap.  If  you  sow  a  handful  you  will  reap  a  bushel ;  if  you 
sow  the  wind  you  shall  reap  the  whirlwind.  I  tremble  for 
these  young  men  who  laugh  in  a  scoffing  way  and  say 
"  I'm  sowing  my  wild  oats."  You  have  got  to  reap  them. 
There  are  some  before  me  now  reaping  them,  who  only  a 
few  years  ago  were  scoffing  in  the  same  way.  And  re- 
member when  the  rea ping-time  comes  these  men  who  now 
are  scoffing  would  like  to  change  places  with  those  at 
whom  they  scoffed.  Cain  would  like  to  change  places 
with  Abel  to-night.  Ahab,  that  proud  monarch  who  looked 
down  on  Elisha  the  Tishbite  dressed  in  his  skins  of  wild 
animals  and  living  there  by  the  brook  and  fed  by  the 
ravens, — why,  how  quick  he  would  change  places  to-night 
with  him  if  he  could.  The  reaping-time  has  come.  One 
sowed  for  eternity,  and  he  is  reaping  now.  The  other 
sowed  for  time,  he  sowed  to  the  flesh,  and  he  is  reaping 
corruption.  Herod  took  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist,  and 
that  unlawful  wife  of  his  and  that  daughter-in-law,  how 
glad  they  would  be  to  change  places  with  John  the  Baptist 
to-night.  The  reaping  time  has  come.  The  rich  man 
who  fared  luxuriously  while  the  poor  man  sat  at  his  gate, 
and  the  dogs  came  and  licked  his  sores,  the  reaping  time 
has  come  for  him  now.  He  would  gladly  change  places 
with  that  beggar  now.  Yes,  there  will  be  a  change  by  and 
by.  Men  may  go  on  scoffing  and  making  light  of  the 
Bible,  but  you  will  find  it  out  to  be  true  by  and  by.  I 
think  there  is  one  passage  here  that  you  will  admit  is  true. 
You  very  often  see  it  in  the  paper,  that  "  murder  will  out" 
when  some  terrible  crime  that  has  been  covered  up  for 
years  has  come  to  light.  And  there  is  just  one  passage  I 
would  like  to  get  everyone  here  this  night  to  remember, 
"  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out."  There  are  a  great 
many  things  in  this  world  we  are  not  sure  of,  but  this  we 
can  always  be   sure  of,  that  our  sins  will  find  us  out.     I 


SOWING  AND  REAPING.    L  299 

don't  care  how  deep  you  dig  the  grave  in  which  you  try  to 
bury  them.  Look  at  those  sons  of  Jacob.  They  thought 
they  had  covered  up  their  sin,  and  their  father  would  never 
find  out  what  they  had  done  with  Joseph.  And  the  old 
man  mourned  him  for  twenty  long  years.  But  at  last, 
after  all  these  years  had  gone,  away  down  in  Egypt,  there 
Joseph  stood  before  them.  How  they  began  to  tremble  ! 
Ah,  it  had  found  them  out.  Their  sin  had  overtaken  them. 
Young  men,  you  may  have  committed  some  sin  many  years 
ago,  and  come  up  with  it  from  the  country  to  this  city,  and 
you  think  nothing  is  known  about  it.  Don't  you  flatter 
yourself.  God  knows  all  about  it  and  be  sure  your  sin  will 
find  you  out.  Your  own  conscience  may  turn  witness 
against  you  by  and  by,  and  you  can't  drown  that  when  it 
turns  against  you.  I  was  preaching  in  Chicago  a  few 
months  ago  and  there  was  a  man  come  into  the  inquiry- 
rooms,  trembling  from  head  to  foot,  and  he  came  back 
again  the  next  night  and  confessed  he  had  broken  in  and 
taken  $16,000  from  an  Express  Company,  and  had  been 
acquitted  of  it  by  a  jury.  But  his  own  conscience  lashed 
him  all  the  while  since,  and  now  God  had  found  him, 
and  he  went  back,  called  his  family  together,  confessed  his 
sin  and  prayed  their  forgiveness  and  then  gave  himself  up  to 
the  officers  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  went  to  jail.  And  he 
wrote  us  a  cheerful  letter  from  prison  and  told  us  how  much 
better  it  was  to  go  to  jail  with  a  clear  conscience  than  to 
go  roaming  through  the  world  with  it  burdened.  Ah  !  my 
friends,  if  we  have  committed  sins  let  us  confess  them.  1 
would  rather  be  over  in  Charlestown  Jail  with  a  clear  con- 
science than  be  walking  up  and  down  Boston  with  my  con- 
science lashing  me  all  the  while.  I  may  be  speaking  to-night 
to  some  dishonest  clerk.  Perhaps  your  employer  knows 
nothing  about  it.  It  may  be  all  between  yourself  and  God, 
but  don't  rest  to-night  till  you  have  confessed  and  made  all 
the  restitution  you  can,  and  you  will   get  relief  for  your 


300  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

aching  heart.  I  pity  the  man  whose  conscience  is  lash- 
ing him  all  the  while.  Some  of  you  may  say,  "  Oh,  but 
my  conscience  don't  trouble  me  !  "  Well,  it  did  at  first, 
didn't  it  ?  When  you  took  the  first  dollar  and  went  to  the 
theatre  with  it,  you  didn't  enjoy  it  much.  The  next  time  you 
took  $2  to  have  a  ride  on  the  Sabbath,  and  that  troubled 
you  too,  but  perhaps  not  so  much.  Conscience  is  like  a  bell, 
that  rings  the  loudest  the  first  time  it  is  rung,  and  fsiinter 
the  more  it  is  rung.  You  have  gone  now  for  months,  and 
you  don't  hear  the  bell.  But,  bear  in  mind,  God  will  wake  you 
up  some  time  ;  the  reaping-time  is  coming.  Some  one  has 
said  I  don't  preach  against  sin.  Don't  preach  against  sin  ! 
Don't  preach  righteousness  !  Why  my  friends,  if  we  don't 
have  righteousness  in  any  community  we  don't  have  Chris- 
tianity. God  forgive  me  if  1  don't  warn  you  against  sin.  The 
judgment  day  is  coming  on.  I  may  be  speaking  to  some  one 
who  has  gone  into  a  home  and  ruined  it,  who  has  enticed  a 
mother's  only  son  away  and  made  him  a  drunkard,  and  you 
say  the  law  can't  touch  you.  Ah  !  but  the  God  of  Heaven  sits 
yonder.  God  will  bring  you  into  judgment  by  and  by.  It  is 
appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  death  the  judg- 
ment. God  has  set  a  day  to  judge  this  world.  Be  sure, 
young  man,  your  sins  will  find  you  out.  When  I  was  in 
London  I  went  into  what  they  called  the  Chamber  of  Hor- 
rors, and  there  was  one  figure  thereof  a  murderer,  who  mur- 
dered his  wife,  escaped  the  law,  married  another  woman 
and  had  seven  children  around  him.  Twenty  years  rolled 
away,  but  he  couldn't  rest  by  day  or  by  night.  He  could 
always  hear  the  voice  of  that  dying  wife  pleading  for  mercy 
and  it  drove  him  almost  mad ;  and  at  last  he  had  to  go  to 
the  officers  and  give  himself  up.  His  own  conscience  bore 
witness  against  him.  And  he  was  taken  out  and  hung, 
convicted  by  his  own  conscience.  So  you  may  think  that 
your  conscience  will  never  trouble  you  for  your  sins,  but  it 
will.     It  is  only  a  question  of  time.     God  has  decreed  that 


SOWING  AND   REAPING.     /.  301 

whatever  a  man  sows,  that  shall  he  also  reap.  Oh!  may  the 
Spirit  of  God  burn  this  down  deep  into  your  hearts  to-night, 
and  may  we  be  ready  to  cry  to  God  for  mercy  like  the  pub- 
lican  of  old.  Oh  !  may  there  not  be  one  in  this  assembly 
that  shall  hasten  to  the  bar  of  God  with  all  his  sins  upon 
him.  Some  tell  you  that  there  is  no  punishment  for  sin  ; 
that  the  harlots  and  drunkards  and  these  vagabonds  that 
demoralize  society,  are  going  to  rush  into  heaven  with- 
out being  converted.  No  greater  lie  ever  came  out  of  the  pit 
of  hell.  The  sword  of  justice  is  raised  against  sin  and 
God  will  smite.  He  found  sin  on  Christ  and  the  sword  of 
just'ce  came  down  upon  Him,  and  if  He  spared  not  His 
own  Son  will  He  spare  you  unless  you  cry  for  salvation. 
If  you  sow  tares  you  will  reap  disappointment,  you  will 
reap  despair,  you  will  reap  death  and  hell.  If  you  sow  to 
the  Spirit  you  shall  reap  peace  and  joy  and  happiness  and 
eternal  life.  The  reaping  time  is  coming.  What  is  the 
harvest  going  to  be  ?  If  you  confess  your  sin  to-night 
God  will  have  mercy  ;  He  delights  in  mercy.  But  if  you 
won't  turn  from  your  sin  and  ask  His  mercy,  how  can  He 
forgive  you  ?  Just  ask  yourself  that  question.  If  you  have 
no  desire,  sinner,  to  be  saved,  how  is  God  going  to  save 
you  .''  You  take  that  blessed  salvation  of  His  and  trample 
it  under  your  feet  and  say,  "  I  hate  that  salvation  ;  I  hate 
Christ  ;  I  don't  want  it."  May  God  waken  your  guilty 
conscience  to-night,  and  may  tiiere  be  a  cry  going  up,  "  Go  J 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  Let  us  take  the  text  again 
to  close  with:  "Be  not  deceived.  God  is  not  mocked. 
For  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.'' 
Young  lady  what  are  you  going  to  reap  ?  Come,  careless 
man,  you  who  just  came  in  here  to  make  sport  of  this  meet- 
ing, what  are  you  going  to  reap  ?  Young  man,  let  the  ques- 
tion sink  in  your  heart  to-night,  what  would  the  harvest  be 
if  God  should  call  you  to  reap  to-night  1  What  would  you 
reap  if  He  called  you  into  judgment  this  night.?      What 


302  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

would  become  of  your  soul  ?  You  know  we  are  all  hastening 
on  to  a  great  prayer-meeting.  A  great  many  now  say  they 
don't  believe  in  prayer-meetings.  We  have  had  some  sol- 
emn prayer-meetings  in  Boston,  but  there  is  a  far  more 
solemn  prayer-meeting  coming  by  and  by.  And  some  of 
their  prayers  are  already  recorded.  They  will  call  on  the 
rocks  and  the  hills  to  fall  on  them  and  hide  them  from  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord.  God  has  decreed  that  every  knee  shall 
bow ;  and  if  you  won't  do  it  in  love,  the  time  shall  come 
when  you  shall  call  on  Him  in  terror  for  mercy.  But  it 
will  be  too  late  then.  When  the  door  is  shut,  neither  angel 
nor  man  can  open  it.  Thank  God  it  is  open  to-night. 
You  can  come  in,  if  you  will ;  O  sinner  come  to-night !  con- 
fess your  sins,  ask  God  to  blot  them  out,  and  He  will  do 
it  now,  this  very  hour.     Let  us  pray. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING.     II. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  AHAB. 


I  WANT  to  talk  to  you  from  the  same  text  as  that  of  last 
night,  and  I  want  to  take  as  an  illustration  the  character 
of  Ahab.  There  is  a  familiar  saying  "  that  every  man  has 
his  price."  Ahab  had  his,  and  he  sold  himself  for  a  gar- 
den, Judas  sold  himself  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  Esau 
for  a  mess  of  pottage.  He  had  sold  himself  just  to  please 
a  poor  fallen  woman,  and  so  we  might  go  on  taking  out 
men  who  have  sold  themselves.  It  is  easy  for  us  to  con- 
demn these  men,  but  let  us  see  if  there  are  not  men  and 
women  doing  the  same  thing  to-day.  How  many  are  sell- 
ing themselves  to-night  for  naught !  It  is  easy  enough  to 
condemn  Judas  and  Herod  and  Ahab,  but  in  doing  this  do 
we  not  condemn  ourselves  ?  We  thought  that  slavery  was 
hard.  We  thought  it  hard  that  these  poor  black  people 
should  be  put  up  in  the  market  upon  the  block  and  sold 
off  to  the  highest  bidder,  but  what  do  you  think  of  those 
men  who  sell  themselves  to-day  for  evil  ?  Ahab  sold  him- 
self to  evil,  and  what  did  he  get?  Elijah  was  the  best 
friend  that  Ahab  had,  but  he  did  not  think  so  ;  he  thought 
that  Elijah  was  his  enemy.  Ahab  was  a  religious  man,  he 
thought.  He  had  850  prophets  ;  and  what  king  had  more, 
what  king  did  more  for  religion  than  he,  so  he  would  have 
said.  There  is  a  difference  between  religion  and  having 
Christ.  There  are  a  great  many  people  that  have  religion 
but  have  no  Christ  in  it,  that  have  not  a  spark  of  Chris- 
tianity. This  man  was  very  religious,  but  as  I  said  this 
morning  of  Jacob,  he  began  wrong.  His  marriage  was 
his  first  wrong  step.       He  did  not  care  about  the  law  of 

303 


3^4 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


God.  He  wanted  to  strengthen  his  kingdom,  I  can 
imagine  they  said  "  We  have  out-grown  the  law  of  Moses. 
We  don't  want  your  God,  we  have  got  something  better. 
Here  are  the  nations  all  around  us  worshipping  Baal,  and 
we  will  worship  Baal."  His  wife  Jezebel  wanted  the  patri- 
archs and  prophets  put  to  death,  and  they  were  put  to  death. 
Obadiah  had  a  few,  but  wherever  they  were  found  they  were 
put  to  death.  I  suppose  they  said  of  Elijah :  "  That  man 
belongs  to  the  old  Puritanical  school."  He  was  bigoted  and 
narrow.  The  idea  of  only  worshipping  one  God.  Ahab  was 
willing  to  turn  away  from  the  God  of  Elijah,  but  he  did  not 
look  to  have  Ahab  reprove  him,  and  thus  he  was  his  enemy. 
Many  a  man  that  has  a  good,  praying  mother  thinks  that 
mother  is  his  enemy.  Young  man,  the  best  friend  that  you 
have  in  this  world  is  that  godly  mother,  who  is  praying  for 
you  night  and  day.  The  minister  that  warns  you  is  your 
friend,  but  then  you  say,  "  I  don't  want  to  hear  that  narrow- 
minded  man  ;  he  is  a  bigot.  Why  don't  he  give  us  some- 
thing that  will  just  touch  our  understanding  ?  Why  don't  he 
say  something  that  will  make  us  comfortable  ?  What  is  he 
all  the  time  preaching  about  punishment  for?  Why  God 
sa3'S,  of  course,  that  He  will  punish  the  wicked,  and  —  well 
He  did't  mean  it  when  He  said  it."  Ahab  thought  the  God 
of  Elijah  was  not  going  to  carry  out  His  w^arning.  I 
will  leave  it  to  you  if  the  man  who  warns  you  of  danger 
isn't  the  best  friend  you  have  got.  If  I  saw  a  man  going 
to  walk  over  a  precipice  and  he  was  blind  and  I  did  not 
warn  him,  would  not  the  blood  of  that  man  be  required  at 
my  hands  ?  Would  not  I  be  guilty  morally  ?  There  was 
danger  that  a  train  would  be  wrecked,  and  it  seemed  im- 
possible that  it  could  be  warned  in  time.  There  was  not 
time  to  go  to  the  next  station  and  warn  the  passengers  of 
their  danger.  So  they  lighted  three  fires  between  the  com- 
ing train  and  dangerous  place,  and  between  these  fires  the 
people  assembled  ;  and  when  the  train  approached  the  first 


SOIV/A^G  AND  REAPING.     II. 


305 


set  of  people  called  out  "  Danger  !  "  but  the  engineer  did 
not  heed  their  shouts  ;  and  at  the  second  fire  they  did  the 
same  thing,  but  still  the  train  went  on  ;  but  at  the  third 
fire  the  engineer  thought  there  must  be  something  the  matter 
and  he  paid  attention  to  the  cries  of  "  Danger !  danger ! " 
and  stopped  the  train  just  upon  the  verge  of  the  precipice. 
Do  you  think  that  these  people  were  not  the  friends  of  the 
people  upon  that  train  ?  Jezebel  hated  Elijah,  and  she 
disliked  him  for  his  warnings.  The  man  that  warns  you 
is  the  best  friend  that  you  have  got.  Suppose  I  am  going 
home  at  night,  at  midnight,  and  I  see  a  building  on  fire  and 
I  pass  along  and  say  nothing  about  it,  and  the  occupants 
are  all  asleep  and  I  go  right  home  and  go  to  bed,  and  in 
the  morning  I  find  that  fifteen  people  in  that  house  were 
burned  up,  how  you  would  condemn  me.  And  if  in  preaching 
the  gospel  I  don't  warn  you  about  your  danger,  about  your 
sins  and  God's  punishment,  what  will  you  say  to  me  when 
I  meet  you  at  the  eternal  throne.  I  don't  want  you  to 
think  that  I  am  trying  to  please  the  people  by  preaching 
that  the  just  and  unjust  will  fare  alike.  You  may  be  suc- 
cessful for  a  time.  Ahab  had  two  grand,  glorious  victories 
upon  the  battle-field,  and  he  was  a  very  popular  man  for  a 
while.  He  built  a  palace  of  ivory,  and  just  here  I  want  to 
speak  of  one  act  of  that  man.  As  he  had  got  that  palace 
built,  after  he  had  built  that  beautiful  palace,  there  was  a 
poor  man  who  had  a  garden  near  it  that  Ahab  wanted. 
And  Ahab  came  to  Naboth,  the  poor  man,  and  wanted  him 
to  sell  his  garden.  But  Naboth  said  he  could  not  do  so, 
for  it  was  against  the  law  of  his  people.  And  Ahab  said 
to  him,  "  I  will  give  you  a  better  place  than  this,  and  I  will 
give  you  a  better  vineyard  than  this."  But  Naboth  was 
firm  and  he  would  not  sell. 

A  good  many  would  have  liked  to  sell  to  the  King. 
They  would  have  said,  "  We  know  it  is  against  the  law,  but 
he  is  foolish  not  to  sell  to  the  King."    "God  forbid  that  I 


3o6  1^0  ALL  PEOPLE. 

should  sell,"  he  said.       Ahab  goes  back  to  his  palace  and 
he  pouts  like  a  child.     Jezebel  notices  him  and  begins  to 
I  speak  with  him,  and  she  says,  "  What  is  the  matter  ? "  And 
\  he  says  like  a  peevish  child,  "  I  want  Naboth's  garden." 
1  And  she  asks  him  why  he  don't  take  it,  and  then  he  tells 
her  and  she  says  :  "  Are  you  not  King  of  Israel?"  "Yes." 
/'Well  then,  why  don't  you  get  it?     I  will  get  it  for  you 
■and  it  shall  not  cost  you   anything."     Mr.  Moody  then  re- 
lated how  Jezebel  sent  the  letter  to  the  elders,  and  gave 
the  story  in   almost  accurate   Scriptural   language.     Con- 
tinuing, he  said  :     Those  elders  were  just  as  bad  as  Jezebel. 
They  knew  that  Naboth  served  the  God  of  Heaven.     The 
instructions  of  the  letter  were  followed.     The  two  witnesses 
said  they  saw  Naboth  despise  God  and  the  King,  and  so  he 
was  taken  out    and  stoned   to    death.      I   can   see    him 
kneeling  there  and  the  crowd   taking  up  the  stones   and 
jhurling  them  at  him.     Well  then  when  Ahab  goes  down 
to  take  possession  of  that  vineyard  there  is  a  message  that 
comes  from  the  throne  of  Heaven.     God  has  been  watch- 
ing him.     He  notices  all  of  us,  and  there  is  not  a  hellish 
:  act  that  has  been  or  is  going  to  be  committed  to-night  but 
that  God  knows  all  about  it.     At  this  point  some  one  faint- 
ed and  Mr.   Moody  said  :    Some  one  has  fainted,  but  it  is 
nothing.     In  large  congregations  like  these  it  would  not  be 
strange  to  have  four  or  five  faint  at   each  service.     It  is 
nothing  remarkable.     Satan  wants   to   attract  your  atten- 
tion in  this  way.     But,  now,  never  mind  this  ;  let  us  go  on, 
with  our  attention  upon  the  sermon.     Elijah  stood  before 
'  Ahab  as  Ahab  went  down  to  that  garden,  and  Ahab  got 
out  of  his  chariot  and  met  him ;  and  he  knew  that  Elijah 
knew  all,  and  he  did  not  like  to  be  reproved.     Ill-gotten 
gains  don't  bring  peace.     If  you  get  anything  at  the  cost 
of  the  truth  or  honor,  it  will  be  peace  lost  for  time  and  per- 
haps for  eternity.     And  as  he  walked  through  that  garden 
he  looked  and  said,  "Why,  is  not  that  Elijah  ?  "     He  knew 


SOWING   AND   REAPING.    II. 


307 


it  was,  and  he  knew  what  it  meant.  Elijah  walks  up  to 
him  and  says,  "  Hast  thou  killed  and  taken  possession?" 
And  Ahab  says,  "  I  wonder  how  he  found  that  out ;  he 
knows  all  about  me."  And  then  Elijah  said  "in  the  place 
where  the  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  Naboth  they  shall  lick 
thy  blood."  And  Ahab  said,  "  Mine  enemy,  hav^e  you 
found  me  out  ?  "  "  Yes,  because  you  have  sold  yourself  to 
evil  you  will  be  found  out,"  A  few  years  before  he  had 
laughed  at  Elijah,  but  he  now  remembered  that  everything 
which  Elijah's  God  had  promised  he  had  done,  and  he 
couldn't  get  these  words  out  of  his  mind ;  "  In  the  place 
where  the  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  Naboth  they  shall  lick 
thy  blood."  Sometimes  just  one  act  that  we  can  do  in  a 
minute  will  cost  us  years  of  trouble  and  pain.  Little  did 
Ahab  think  that  it  was  going  to  cost  him  his  kingdom  and 
his  whole  family  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  when  he 
gave  the  promise  to  Jezebel  to  write  that  letter.  If  you  do 
not  ask  God  to  forgive  you,  be  sure  your  sins  will  find  you 
out.  God  knows  all  about  them,  and  by  and  by  punish- 
ment will  come  to  you  as  it  did  to  Ahab.  Mr.  Moody  then 
related  the  story  of  a  widow  woman  who  had  an  only  son, 
and  this  son  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  a  hotel  bar.  The 
pleadings  of  the  mother  were  in  vain,  and  the  hotel-keeper 
said  he  would  sell  liquor  to  anyone  who  asked  it.  This 
son  died,  and  the  mother  soon  followed,  and  afterwards  a 
terrible  retribution  was  that  hotel-keeper's,  for  his  only  son 
became  a  drunkard  and  one  night  blew  out  his  brains. 
"  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  he  shall  reap."  This  picture 
is  not  overdrawn  ;  there  are  hundreds  of  similar  cases. 
Judgment  is  sure  to  come.  God  is  a  God  of  goodness,  a  God 
of  equity,  a  God  of  justice,  and  He  will  sit  in  judgment 
upon  us.  Ahab  lived  three  years  after  Elijah  met  him  in 
that  garden,  and  how  many  times  do  you  suppose  those 
words  of  Elijah  came  into  his  mind  ?  He  couldn't  get  them 
out  of  his  mind.     Jezebel  tried  to  help  him,  but  she  couldn't 


3o8  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

He  wanted  to  improve  the  garden  and  he,  no  doubt,  did , 
but  whenever  lie  walked  there  the  words  came  to  him  which 
EHjah  had  spoken.  Then  the  time  came  for  judgment  to 
be  carried  out  against  Ahab.  Mr,  Moody  then  told  the 
Bible  story  of  Ahab's  death.  Do  you  think  God  is  going 
to  spare  the  guilty  ?  Do  3^ou  think  these  libertines  and 
these  drunkards  are  going  into  heaven  without  asking  for 
mercy?  Oh,  may  there  be  some  Elijah  cross  their  path  to- 
night !  if  anything  I  have  said  has  passed  over  you  to-night, 
may  something  open  your  eyes  and  show  you  the  truth.  I 
'  hope  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman  here  to-night,  who  has  a 
secret  sin,  who  will  not  confess  that  sin  and  turn  away  from  it. 
You  may  be  summoned  to  stand  before  the  throne  of  God 
within  twenty-four  hours.  If  you  are  willing  to  confess  your 
sins,  and  God  has  forgiven  them,  not  one  of  them  will  be 
mentioned.  The  Bible  tells  us  who  will  enter  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  and  the  Bible  gives  no  uncertain  sound  upon  this 
subject.  No  adulterer  can  enter  there.  Is  there  a  man  or 
woman  here  who  is  living  in  adultery?  Let  them  listen  to 
these  words.  Again,  no  drunkard  can  enter  there.  If  there  is 
a  drunkard  here  to-night,  ask  God  to  forgive  you.  Look 
again  ;  no  unrighteous  man,  no  thief,  no  coveteous  man, 
no  reviler,  shall  enter  the  kingdom.  It  is  a  terrible  truth 
that  God  is  going  to  punish  sin  ;  you  may  laugh  at  it,  but 
be  not  deceived  ;  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  he  must  reap. 
Oh,  may  God  wake  up  every  one  stumbling,  sleeping  here 
to-night ! 


COVETOUSNESS. 


I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  this  parable  in  the 
2oth  of  Luke.  There  are  a  great  many  things  that  are 
said  here  night  after  night  about  different  sins.  There  is 
hardly  a  night  that  something  is  not  said  about  drunken- 
ness, and  a  good  many  people  seem  to  think  that  is  about 
the  only  sin  there  is  at  the  present  time.  There  are  a 
great  many  men  that  are  looking  down  upon  the  drunkard 
and  saying  sometimes  in  a  contemptuous  manner,  "  They 
are  to  be  pitied."  But  there  is  five  times  more  about 
covetousness  in  the  Bible  than  there  is  about  drunkenness 
and  some  other  sins.  We  find  the  Saviour  in  this  parable 
is  talking  about  covetousness,  and  thus  he  goes  on  to  draw 
this  picture,  a  scene  that  might  occur  anywhere — a  scene 
that  does  occur  every  day.  This  man  was  not  a  drunkard 
or  a  hypocrite.  If  he  was  we  are  not  told  that  he  had  any 
sins  of  this  kind.  He  was  a  man  such  as  a  good  many 
mothers  hold  up  as  a  model  for  their  sons.  He  was  what 
we  would  call  a  successful  man.  He  did  not  make  his 
money  by  shaving  notes  and  getting  a  large  usury.  He 
did  not  make  his  money  by  gambling.  There  isn't  any- 
thing said  about  his  "getting  up  a  corner"  on  gold.  It 
don't  say  that  he  made  it  out  of  railroads,  by  watering 
stocks.  It  don't  say  that  he  made  it  by  selling  ruin  or 
renting  his  property  to  rumsellers  or  for  houses  of  prostitu- 
tion. There  is  not  anything  of  that  kind  against  him. 
There  is  nothing  against  him  except  that  he  was  covetous. ' 
He  was  a  farmer,  and  there  can  be  no  more  honorable 
occupation  than  that.     No  doubt  his   neighbors  would  all 

7og  ' 


3IO  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

have  called  him  a  very  nice  and  discrete  man,  and  if  he 
was  living  here  in  Massachussetts  you  would  probably  have 
sent  him  into  the  Legislature  or  made  him  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  or  sent  him  to  Congress.  He  was  a  man  whom 
everybody  spoke  well  of.  But  bear  in  mind  that  God  does 
not  see  as  you  see.  What  we  very  often  consider  a  suc- 
cessful thing  is  the  very  thing  that  God  condemns.  These 
very  men  that  the  world  applaud  and  that  so  many  try  to 
imitate,  are  the  very  men  that  Christ  calls  fools,  "  This 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee,"  said  the  angel 
of  death  to  this  man.  He  had  got  fatness  of  wealth,  but 
he  had  got  leanness  of  soul.  He  owned  this  farm,  and 
there  was  probably  no  mortgage  upon  it.  He  had  prob- 
ably bought  up  all  the  farms  around  him. 

"  And  he  said,  This  will  I  do  :  I  will  pull  down  my 
barns,  and  build  greater  ;  and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my 
fruits  and  my  goods. 

"  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul.  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods 
laid  up  for  many  years  ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be 
merry." 

No  doubt  they  had  revivals  in  those  days,  but  he  would 
not  have  gone  to  a  revival.  If  he  had  been  in  Boston  he 
would  have  been  living  upon  Beacon  street,  and  he  would 
not  have  gone  to  this  meeting.  These  revivals  are  not  a 
new  thing.  The  greatest  revival  that  ever  took  place  was 
that  on  the  Jordan,  and  no  preacher  since  has  preached 
as  did  John  the  Baptist.  All  the  nations  flocked  to  hear 
him.  And  they  flocked  right  past  his  farm  on  their  way  to 
Jordan.  But  you  don't  think  that  he  went.^  Oh,  no!  He 
had  a  formed  religion.  No  doubt  he  had  the  very  best 
seats  in  the  synagogue,  and  went  to  the  services  every 
Sabbath.  No  doubt  he  went  as  people  often  do  now,  to 
some  church  where  they  didn't  preach  much  about  cove- 
tousness.  He  would  have  said,  "  You  don't  think  I  am 
religious  ?  Why,  I  go  to  church  every  Sunday,  regularly." 


CO  VE  TO  US  NESS.  3 1 1 

"Well,  will  you  come  to  hear  John  the  Baptist  ? ''  "  No  !i 
I  don't  believe  in  that  sort  of  thing  much.  I  go  through ! 
the  regular  form.  Who  ordained  him  ?  Why,  I  understand, 
he  dresses  like  a  wild  man  and  that  he  goes  out  into  the' 
wilderness  and  sleeps  and  spends  his  nights  there.  I  will 
go  to  hear  a  regularly  ordained  preacher,  but  who  ordained, 
him  to  preach  ?  "  Christ's  testimony  of  John  was  that  there' 
was  none  greater  born  of  woman.  The  apostles  were 
commanded  to  go  forth  by  twos  and  preach  the  gospel,  and 
the  apostles  came  into  this  man's  town,  but  he  would  not 
go  to  hear  them  preach.  No  doubt  he  often  drove  by' 
them  in  his  chariot  and  refused  to  hear  their  cry,  "Repent, 
repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  nigh."  He  is  too 
busy.  He  has  just  so  much  time  for  religious  meetings 
and  no  more.  You  go  and  talk  to  him  about  these  special 
meetings  and  he  will  say,  "  I  am  a  very  busy  man."  And 
perhaps  he  would  quote  the  text,  "  Be  not  slothful  in  busi- 
ness." A  good  many  nowadays  preach  that  text,  but  they 
stop  right  there.  They  don't  choose  to  go  any  further.  A 
man  came  out  to  Chicago  some  years  ago  and  preached 
there.  And  he  preached  from  this  text.  And  most  of  the 
men  out  there  had  come  there  to  make  money  and  were 
eagerly  engaged  in  acquiring  wealth.  And  the  old  minister 
listened  to  the  young  man  preach  and  he  expected  that  he 
would  come  to  the  end  and  draw  the  moral,  but  he  did  not. 
And  he  said,  "  Why  in  the  world  didn't  you  tell  those  men 
all  the  great  truths  of  this  text  ?  Don't  you  know  that  you 
can  only  get  at  them  fifty-two  times  a  year  ?  Why  did  you 
not  go  for  them  ?"  My  friends,  business  is  all  right  in  its 
place  ;  it  is  of  great  importance,  but  the  salvation  of  the 
soul  is  greater.  ^That  is  the  mistake  that  these  men  make  ; 
business  is  the  first  thing  to  them.  There  was  another 
great  preacher  in  those  days^-Jesus  Christ ;  and  no  doubt 
he  preached  within  five  miles  of  this  man's  farm.  The  whole 
country  was  being  stirred  by  the  preaching  of  this  man  who 


312 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


"  spoke  as  never  man  spoke  before,"  but  this  man  was  a 
'Pharisee  and  the  Pharisees  would  not  go  to  hear  him.  The 
publicans  and  the  harlots  went  to  hear  him,  but  you  don't 
think  this  man  went  to  hear  him,  do  you  ?  But  let  us  look 
at  him,  he  has  torn  down  his  house  and  he  has  prepared  to 
make  it  larger.  He  was  surrounded  by  luxury.  I  dare  say 
everything  that  money  could  buy  could  be  found  there 
But  he  has  not  anything  for  the  future.  He  is  in  his  din- 
ing-room. He  sits  down  to  plan  out  his  new  works,  and 
his  doors  are  locked  and  his  windows  are  barred  to  keep 
out  the  thieves,  for  there  were  thieves  in  those  days  as 
there  are  in  ours.  There  he  was  safe  and  secure,  laying 
out  his  plans.  While  he  is  there  a  stranger  enters.  There 
is  no  knock.  He  turns  no  key  in  the  door,  but  he  comes 
in  and  stands  before  him,  and  he  goes  and  lays  his  cold, 
icy  hand  upon  him,  and  he  says,  "  O  Death,  have  you  come 
for  me  ?  Have  I  got  to  die  to-night  ?  "  "Yes,  I  have  come 
to  take  you  now."  Death  did  not  give  him  any  warning 
that  night.  Death  will  come  for  you.  You  have  had  many 
a  warning.  You  have  had  one  warning  after  another,  and 
you  have  not  heeded  them,  and  soon  Death  will  come 
through  your  door  without  knocking  and  Death  cannot  be 
bribed.  You  cannot  buy  him  up.  Your  time  is  come  and 
you  must  go.  This  man  looked  at  him  and  he  was  terrined. 
He  had  prepared  for  everything  but  death.  He  made  plans 
for  everything  but  for  the  end  beyond  the  grave. 

Lay  up  your  treasures  in  heaven.  Many  that  the  world 
calls  rich  die  beggars.  Now  he  must  go.  There  stands 
death,  the  last  enemy  of  man,  and  he  overcame  him.  Bear 
this  in  mind.  Death  is  upon  our  track.  He  is  coming  for 
us  sooner  or  later  ;  it  is  only  a  question  of  time.  There  is 
one  thing  that  is  sure,  that  is  that  death  will  overcome  us. 
It  is  only  a  matter  of  a  few  months  or  a  few  years  at  the 
longest.  Are  you  ready  for  him  ?  Are  you  living  for 
another  world  or  only  for  this  ?     Are  you  living  all  these 


CO  VE  ro  us  NESS. 


z^^z 


years  without  thinking  ?  It  was  so  with  this  man.  Death 
laid  its  hand  upon  his  heart  and  it  was  too  late.  His  pulse 
now  ceases  and  the  man  is  gone.  Death  has  broken  in 
suddenly  upon  that  home  and  the  man  is  in  another  world. 
Perhaps  they  had  a  great  funeral  and  the  minister  held  him 
up  as  a  great  example,  and  it  may  be  that  he  was  held  up 
as  a  beacon  light  What  a  wreck  !  Died  without  hope. 
Man  may  have  fixed  a  monument  over  his  body,  but  the 
Son  of  God  wrote  his  epitaph.  "  Thou  fool,"  that  is  what 
Christ  said.  A  rich  man  was  dying  a  few  years  ago  and  he 
s-ent  for  a  ph3^sician  and  the  physician  came  and  told  him 
that  he  agreed  with  the  other  physician,  and  he  said  it  was 
true  he  must  die.  Then  he  sent  for  his  lawyer  to  make  his 
will  and  to  arrange  for  the  division  of  his  property  and  the 
settlement  of  his  home.  And  his  little  child,  four  years 
old,  was  listening  to  him  and  she  came  up  to  the  bed  and 
said,  "  Father,  have  you  got  a  home  in  the  land  you  are 
going  to  ?  "  That  touched  him.  He  had  no  home  in  the 
land  he  was  going  to. 

He  died  a  pauper  !  Entered  eternity  a  beggar.  Oh,  may 
God  open  our  eyes  and  show  us  that  it  is  better  to  live  for 
something  other  than  wealth  !  These  hard  times  are  the 
best  thing  that  could  happen  to  us.  It  was  prosperity  that 
turned  Jerusalem  against  God.  Men  in  this  city  have 
turned  away  from  God  and  scoffed  at  eternal  truth.  "  Who 
is  God,  that  I  should  obey  Him  I  "  they  have  said.  It  is 
the  dead  level  of  a  man's  life  that  ruins  him.  Oh,  may  God 
lead  us  to  believe  that  this  isn't  our  home,  and  that  this  life 
is  a  matter  not  to  be  compared  with  eternity  !  If  you  were 
to  summon  up  the  dead  from  Mount  Auburn,  you  would 
have  an  audience  much  younger  than  this  one.  Six  mil- 
lions die  every  year.  Death  is  before  us,  behind  us,  upon 
our  right  hand  and  upon  our  left  hand,  we  must  soon  leave 
this  world.  How  few  are  preparing  to  leave.  Some  men 
tell  us  that  they  can  repent  after  death.     Where  is  that  in 


314  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

the  Scripture  ?  All  admit  that  that  may  not  be  true.  Why, 
then,  take  such  a  chance  ?  Supposing  now  that  there  is 
one  chance  out  of  a  million  that  there  may  be  no  chance 
of  repentance  after  the  grave.  Can  you  afford  to  take  even 
that  one  chance  ?  It  is  folly  for  a  man  to  put  this  off.  Are 
you  ready  ?  If  not  why  not  get  ready  to-night  ?  It  can  be 
done.  To  die  is  to  gain.  My  friends,  are  you  ready  for 
that  gain  ?  Why  go  out  of  this  house  to-night  until  you 
have  cast  your  sins  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  Until 
you  have  received  eternal  life  ?  A  man  was  talking  to  a 
sailor  and  he  said,  "  Where  did  your  father  die  ? "  "  He  died 
at  sea."  "  Where  did  your  grandfather  die  t  "  "  At  sea." 
"  And  your  great-grandfather  ?  "  "All  at  sea."  He  expect- 
ed that  he  would  die  at  sea.  "  Well,  are  you  ready  to  die  ?  " 
Said  the  sailor,  "  Where  did  your  forefathers  die  ?  "  "  All 
died  on  land."  "  Well,  are  you  prepared  t  "  he  said.  We 
must  all  meet  death.  We  must  not  neglect  salvation.  Sup- 
pose you  have  not  done  anything  but  neglect  salvation,  are 
you  ready  to  die  ?  There  are  three  steps  from  Christ : 
First,  neglect  of  Him  ;  next,  refusing  to  accept  Him,  and 
next  and  last,  despising  salvation.  When  a  man  despises 
salvation  he  scorns  God  and  scoffs  at  his  mother's  prayers. 
May  God  help  you  not  to  miss  salvation.  It  would  be  far 
better  that  you  had  never  been  born  than  that  you  should 
miss  it.  May  God  forbid  that  any  soul  in  this  assembly 
should  be  lost. 


WHAT  WILL  YOU  DO  WITH  JESUS? 


I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  the  27th  chapter 
of  Matthew  and  the  22d  verse  :  "  Pilate  saith  unto  them, 
What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus,  which  is  called  Christ  ? 
They  all  say  unto  him,  Let  him  be  crucified."  We 
have  to  do  to-night  with  Pilate's  question  to  the  Jews : 
"  What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus,  which  is  called 
Christ  ?  "  "  What  shall  /do  ?  "  I  !  It  is  a  personal  ques- 
tion, and  they  all  said,  ''Let  him  be  crucified."  It  is 
a  question  that  is  disturbing  a  great  many  in  this  city  at 
the  present  time.  There  are  a  great  many  coming  to  us 
daily  to  know  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved.  There  is 
an  impression  abroad  that  the  work  is  not  taking  hold  of 
Boston,  but  I  consider  this  week  one  of  the  most  precious 
of  my  life.  It  seems  to  me  the  work  is  deeper  here  than 
any  place  we  have  ever  been.  The  cry  is  coming  up  from 
all  classes,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  "  Christ  is  being  brought 
right  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
many  are  asking  the  same  question  that  Pilate  asked  on 
that  memorable  morning,  "  What  shall  I  do  with  him .? " 
Pilate  had  been  called  upon  unexpectedly  to  decide  the 
question.  He  was  aroused  early  that  morning  by  the  Jews, 
bringing  Him  in  to  get  a  decision.  That  night,  while  He 
was  sound  asleep.  He  was  brought  before  the  Sanhedrim 
and  He  was  condemned.  It  was  upon  Thursday  night  that 
He  was  condemned  by  the  Jews,  and  he  had  been  pro- 
nounced guilty  of  death  and  had  been  sentenced  to  death 
•upon  the  cross.  But  to  get  the  consent  of  the  Roman 
Governor  He  was  brought  before   Pillte.     Pilate  had  a 

315  • 


3i6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

great  many  brought  before  him  to  be  condemned  and  ex- 
ecuted, but  he  never  had  such  a  prisoner  as  this  brought 
before  him.  His  judgment  was  convinced  that  this  was  a 
just  man  and  his  own  heart  told  him  to  release  this  man. 
His  wife  was  his  good  angel ;  for  she  had  been  warned  in 
a  dream,  and  she  said,  "  Have  thou  nothing  to  do  with 
that  just  man."  Pilate  wanted  to  get  rid  of  the  responsi- 
bility. And  others  told  him  that  He  had  disturbed  the 
whole  country  and  that  if  he  released  Him  he  would  not 
be  a  sincere  friend  of  the  people.  And  so  he  was  forced 
nito  a  decision.  He  had  to  decide  whether  he  would  re- 
ceive Him  or  reject  Him.  There  may  be  some  here  to- 
night that  have  not  received  Christ.  But  you  have  got  to 
decide  some  time.  You  must  either  decide  to  receive 
Him  or  reject  Him.  Pilate  was  vacillating,  and  so  he 
said  he  would  call  upon  them  to  decide.  He  thought  they 
would  all  want  Christ  released  rather  than  Barabbas. 
Christ  had  given  life,  Barabbas  had  taken  life.  Barabbas 
was  not  only  a  thief,  but  he  was  a  murderer,  and  he  thought, 
surely  the  Jews  would  rather  have  him  out  for  execution 
than  the  Son  of  God.  But  they  insisted  upon  having 
Barabbas  released,  and  then  he  said,  "What  shall  I  do 
with  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ  ? "  and  the  cry  went  up, 
"  Let  Him  be  crucified."  Then  Pilate,  washing  his  hands, 
said,  "  I  am  innocent  of  this  just  man's  blood."  And  they 
cried  out,  "  His  blood  be  upon  us  and  our  children."  There 
are  a  great  many  men  now  like  Pilate,  they  think  they  can 
shift  the  responsibility.  But  bear  in  mind  that  God  gave 
Himself  up  freely  for  us  all.  God  sends  Him  to  each  one 
of  us,  and  we  must  decide  what  we  will  do.  We  must 
either  reject  Him  or  receive  Him.  The  trouble  with  Pilate 
was  that  it  was  not  for  his  earthly  interest  to  decide  in 
favor  of  Christ.  Instead  of  deciding  it  like  a  man  he  was 
vacillating,  and  wanted  to  be  popular  with  the  people. 
This  vacillating  man  gave  way.     Instead  of  deciding  what 


WHAT   WILL    YOU  DO    WITH  JESUS?  317 

he  knew  was  right  he  let  the  public  influence  him.  How 
many  men  do  you  think  would  become  Christians  inside 
of  forty-eight  hours  if  it  were  not  for  public  opinion  ?  How 
many  men  are  convinced  that  God  can  save  them  from  sin, 
that  He  can  redeem  them  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  but 
are  withheld  from  acknowledging  it  from  fear  of  public 
opinion,  from  fear  of  what  professed  friends  may  say  ? 
There  are  more  men  lost  for  the  want  of  decision  than  for 
anything  else.  Pilate  thought  that  Christ  would  perhaps 
cross  his  path  again,  and  he  could  then  show  some  kind- 
ness to  Him.  But  it  was  the  last  time  that  he  ever  saw 
Him.  It  may  be  that  the  Son  of  God  is  coming  to-night, 
and  to  you  for  the  last  time.  The  question  is  "  What  will 
you  do  with  Him  1 "  May  God  help  us  to  decide  what  we 
shall  do  with  him.  Look  at  the  end  of  these  men  that 
were  complicated  in  this  :  Annas  had  his  house  taken 
down.  Judas,  look  at  him,  as  he  comes  back  into  that 
judgment  hall.  He  was  driven  into  remorse  and  gloom, 
and  he  came  and  spoke  to  the  priests  ;  but  they  could  not 
comfort  him.  Poor  Judas  threw  down  his  money  and  was 
in  eternity  before  Christ  died.  Caiaphas — he  too  wanted 
the  applause  of  men,  but  he  was  deposed  from  his  office. 
Herod  was  banished,  and  died  in  exile.  And  Pilate  lost 
his  office,  and  he  was  banished  and  died  in  exile,  a  suicide. 
He  remembered  how  Christ  looked ;  he  remembered  how 
He  had  talked  to  him  ;  how  kind  the  Son  of  God  was,  and 
it  drove  him  into  remorse  and  despair.  That  would  not 
have  been  the  death  of  Pilate  if  he  had  had  moral  courage. 
Look  at  the  end  of  that  man,  you  who  are  rejecting  Him. 
How  dark  and  gloomy  and  miserable  it  was.  But  then 
let  us  look  upon  the  lives  of  those  who  believed  upon  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  How  glorious  their  end  was.  Look 
at  Peter  and  James,  and  John,  they  took  their  stand  upon 
His  side  ;  they  were  not  ashamed  of  being  associated  with 
the  "  Man  of  sorrows,  who  was  acquainted  with  great  grief." 


3i8  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

They  were  willing  to  go  into  Gethsemane  with  Him  ;  to 
be  considered  His  friend.  How  Pilate's  name  would  have 
come  down  to  us  if  he  had  not  vacillated,  if  he  had  remain- 
ed firm  in  the  right.  His  name  has  come  down  to  us  as  a 
warning.  Pilate  was  lost  for  lack  of  courage,  for  want  of 
decision.  Let  this  question  come  home  to  each  one  of  us 
this  very  night,  "What  shall  I  then  do  with  Jesus  which  is 
called  Christ  ? "  I  heard  of  a  man  who  made  his  boast 
that  he  had  come  in  here  and  deceived  people  as  to  his 
comersion,  and  how  he  had  got  money  here  and  gone  out 
and  spent  it  for  drink.  My  friend,  you  may  deceive  us, 
but  you  cannot  deceive  God  ;  and  you  will  have  your  place 
in  the  row  with  Judas.  A  great  many  people  say  that  they 
don't  want  to  join  the  church  because  they  don't  want  to 
be  associated  with  h3'pocrites.  There  are  no  hypocrites  in 
Heaven  \  and  if  you  don't  want  to  be  in  the  company  of 
these  hypocrites  you  had  better  make  haste  and  come  to 
God.  Look  at  poor  Judas.  He  made  a  great  profes- 
sion. He  was  the  treasurer  of  the  little  band.  He  was 
one  of  the  chosen  twelve,  and  3^et  he  sold  Christ  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver.  There  are  many  to-day  that  are  doing 
much  the  same  thing.  They  are  using  religion  for 
a  cloak  to  cover  sin,  but  the  time  is  coming  when 
God  will  stop  you.  May  God  wake  you  up  so  that  you 
may  confess  your  hypocrisy  and  that  you  may  not  longer 
betray  the  Son  of  God.  Don't  tell  me  that  Judas  is  with 
the  rest  of  the  twelve ;  that  it  makes  no  difference  ;  it 
makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world.  There  is  another 
class  represented  by  these  men — formalists.  Annas  and 
Caiaphas  were  formalists.  They  had  a  form  of  religion, 
but  they  denied  the  power.  They  go  to  Christ.  They  say 
their  prayers.  They  wouldn't  have  any  mediator  between 
them  and  God.  What  did  they  want  of  a  Christ }  They 
thought  they  could  get  along  without  Him.  Unless  you 
take  Jesus  as  your  Redeemer  and  worship  Him  as  such,  it 


WBAT   WILL    YOU  DO    WITH  JESUS  t  319 

is  merely  formalism.  There  are  many  men  just  like  them. 
They  profess  to  be  Christians,  but  you  cannot  find  Christ 
in  one  act  of  their  lives.  They  put  on  religion  as  a  man 
puts  on  his  clothes.  They  put  it  on  Sunday  with  their 
Sunday  clothes,  but  there  is  no  sign  of  their  being  Chris- 
tians the  rest  of  the  week.  Oh,  they  say  they  "  are 
perfectly  safe ;  I  belong  to  the  church  and  I  go  there 
regularly."  Well,  what  are  you  doing  with  Him  personally  ? 
What  are  you  doing  with  the  Son  of  God  ?  Are  you 
crucifying  Him  ?  If  you  are,  you  are  with  Annas  and 
Caiaphas.  Herod  represented  the  scorners.  He  mocked. 
And  I  see  men  in  the  assembly  now  who  are  mocking  Him 
and  whose  faces  say,  "Why  ought  I  to  receive  Him?" 
•'  Receive  Him  as  my  Saviour  ?  No !  I  will  stand  upon  my 
own  righteousness.  Going  to  be  saved  by  the  intercession 
of  another  ?  No  !  no  !  no  !  a  thousand  times  no  !  "  They 
are  going  to  Heaven  without  any  mediator  for  them.  They 
are  virtually  saying  that  they  can  get  on  without  Him.  I 
tell  you  there  is  no  other  way  to  get  there.  Don't  think 
for  a  moment  that  you  can  mock  at  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
you  are  going  to  get  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  without 
Christ.  My  friends,  are  you  going  to  do  as  Herod  did  ? 
are  you  going  to  do  as  Pilate  did  .'*  If  Pilate  had  consented 
to  let  Him  go  free  how  Pilate's  name  would  have  blazoned 
out  upon  the  page  of  history  to-night.  It  would  have 
been  associated  with  that  of  Paul  and  John  the  Baptist. 
Solomon  tried  all  the  pleasures  and  he  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  all  of  the  world's  pleasures  were  vanities.  He 
tried  them  one  after  another  and  then  he  did  them  all  up 
in  a  bundle  and  labeled  them  vanity.  He  was  a  king, 
and  all  pleasures  were  open  to  him,  and  if  he  could  not  be 
satisfied  how  can  you  expect  to  be  "i  If  you  want  true 
pleasure,  true  peace,  you  want  Christ,  and  if  you  will  take 
Him  to-night.  He  will  bring  joy  and  glory,  and  the  light  of 
eternity  will  play  around  your  path  from  this  night.     You 


220  ^<^  '^^L  PEOPLE. 

say,  "  I  was  not  brought  up  to  believe  that."  Well,  He  is 
as  much  a  Saviour  to-night  as  He  was  1800  years  ago. 
Young  man,  you  are  a  scoffer.  What  are  you  going  to  do 
with  this  question  :  "  What  shall  I  do,  then,  with  Jesus, 
which  is  called  Christ.?"  Are  you  going  to  mock  and 
scoff  on  ?  He  came  into  this  world  to  save  the  like  of  you. 
Are  you  go'ng  to  die  persecuting  Him  ?  He  loves  you 
and  gave  Himself  up  for  you.  Can  you  give  a  reason  for 
hating  Him  1  I  never  yet  could  find  a  man  who  could 
give  a  reason  for  hating  Christ.  We  do  not  ask  you  to 
believe  us.  We  offer  Him  to  you  as  an-  example.  I 
challenge  any  infidel  to  find  a  blot  on  His  character.  I 
preached  a  series  of  sermons  in  October,  187 1,  in  Farwell 
Hall,  Chicago,  and  I  was  urging  the  people  to  decide.  I 
gave  them  a  week  to  decide  this  question.  I  said  to  them, 
"  Next  Sunday  night  I  want  you  to  decide."  I  think  I 
would  give  my  right  hand  now  before  I  would  give  them  a 
chance  to  wait  a  week.  As  we  closed  that  meeting  the 
city  bell  was  tolling  out  a  fire  alarm.  I  thought  it  was  just 
an  ordinary  fire.  That  was  the  last  evening  that  I  preached 
in  that  hall.  There  were  hundreds  of  people  burned  up 
that  night.  I  don't  know  how  many  there  were  in  that 
hall  that  were  lost.  And  I  stood  there,  and  I  thought  that 
I  had'  given  them  a  week  to  decide  this  question.  My 
friends,  I  want  you  to  decide  to-night.  We  haven't  any 
promise  of  to-morrow.  We  don't  know  what  is  before  us, 
but  if  we  have  received  Jesus  Christ,  let  storms  come,  let 
death  come,  let  sickness  come,  let  pestilence  come,  we  are 
sure  of  immortality,  we  are  sure  of  life  beyond  the  grave. 
He  is  offered  to  you.  God  gives  Him  up  to  the  world  \ 
He  gives  Him  up  to  you.  You  say  you  cannot  give  your- 
self up  to  Him.  He  don't  ask  it.  He  says  take  Him. 
You  can  take  Him.  You  can  do  that,  can't  you  ?  He  has 
given  Himself  up  to  you;  now  take  Him.  "He  came  to 
His  own  and  His  own  received  Him  not,  but  as  many  as 


WHAT  WILL    YOU  DO   WITH  7ESUS? 


321 


received  Him  to  them  gave  He  power."  You  can  receive 
Him  now  wliile  I  am  talking.  You  can  say,  "  I  do  receive 
lliee  ;  I  do  believe  Thee."  When  you  know  God  He  will 
appear  very  dear  to  you.  Yes,  these  young  converts  nod 
their  heads.  One  night's  interview  with  the  Son  of  God 
is  worth  all  the  nights  you  ever  had.  Will  you  have  Him  ? 
Let  the  question  go  round.  Now  who  will  have  Him  to- 
night ?  Who  will  take  Him  to-night  as  God's  gift  to  you  .'' 
"  What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus,  which  is  called  Christ?  " 
Shall  I  reject  Him  or  shall  I  receive  Him  ?  There  isn't  a 
man  but  can  receive  Him  if  he  will.  It  ain't  because  they 
cannot,  it  is  because  they  won't.  If  Pilate  had  asked  Him 
too  He  would  have  received  Pilate  right  there.  There  are 
many  that  cannot  receive  honor  from  God  because  they 
want  it  from  men.  O  may  we  all  receive  a  passion  for 
Christ  that  we  may  commence  this  night  to  love  Him  and 
serve  Him. 

21 


GOD'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  SINNER. 


^  We  find  a  good  many  people  in  the  inquiry-room  night 
after  night  that  tell  us  they  cannot  pray.  They  would  like . 
to  pray,  they  say.  Their  sins  are  troubling  them  ;  they 
are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  many  of  them  cast  down  under 
their  sins.  They  want  to  get  rid  of  the  burden,  but  they 
keep  running  after  this  man  and  that  man,  asking  them  to 
pray  for  them.  Now,  if  a  man  can't  pray,  it  must  be  be- 
cause he  has  a  false  impression  about  God.  It  is  a  false 
idea  which  hinders  you  from  praying  to  God  now  in  your 
hearts — praying  to  Him  here,  not  in  your  closet  at  home, 
but  here  in  the  silence  of  your  hearts.    The  great  truth  we 

*T^  want  to  remember  is  that  God  loves  the  sinner.     He  hates 

sin,  yea,  with  a  perfect  hatred ;  but  he  loves  the  sinner. 

God  is  love.     Oh,  that  all  in  this  assembly  might  feel  this 

and  be  drawn   towards   Him  !    If  you   really  want  to  be 

saved,  just  come  to  God,  and  He  will  save  you.     A  man 

came  to  me  in  the  inquiry-room  the  other  night  and  said  : 

"  I  cannot  pray,  I  have  not  strength  to  pray,  I  am  too  vile." 

Now,  God  has  given  us  just  the  words  to  meet  this  case. 

In  the  5th  chapter  of  Romans,  at  the  6th  verse,  we  read : 

"  For  when  we  were  without   strength,  in  due   time  Christ 

died  for  the  ungodly."     It  is  a  good  thing  to  know  that  we 

have  no  strength,  and  to  bear  in  mind  that  Christ  died  for 

the  ungodly.      Then  this    text  has  a  lesson  for  another 

class.     There  was  once  a  woman   at  an  inquiry-meeting 

who   thought   she  was   not  very  bad,  and,   of  course,  she 

could  find   neither  peace  nor  light  while   she  believed  in 

herself.     Soon  after,  she  heard  a  minister  preach  from  this 

same  text:  "Christ  died  for  the  ungodly."     She  thought 
322 


ITT. 


GOD'S  LOVE  FOR    THE  SINNER.  323 

over  this  for  a  moment  and  said :  "  Oh,  if  I  was  only  ungodly, 
I  might  get  salvation  !  "  But  before  the  sermon  was  over  the 
woman  found  that  she  was  a  great  sinner ;  and,  at  the 
close,  she  took  her  place  with  the  ungodly  and  got  salva- 
tion then  and  there.  When  we  know  that  we  are  ungodly 
en  it  is  that  we  get  salvation.  ,1  was  talking  with  two 
ladies  the  other  day  at  the  inquiry-room.  One  of  them 
was  in  tears,  and  said,  "  I  am  lost."  But  the  other  stopped 
her  and  said,  "  Don't  say  that;  don't  say  that  you  are  lost ; 
don't  tell  her  that ;  I  can't  indorse  that  doctrine  Mr. 
Moody."  Well,"  I  said,  "  my  good  woman,  it's  true.  She 
is  lost.  And  what  did  Christ  come  into  the  world  for  but 
to  seek  and  save  the  lost  ?  He  can  save  you,  and  He  will 
save  you  if  you  will  accept  Him."  And  this  lady  who 
knew  she  was  lost  found  the  Saviour,  while  the  other  did 
not  feel  the  weight  of  her  sin  and  could  not  see  the  need 
of  salvation.  In  the  next  verses  of  the  same  chapter  of 
Romans  we  find  ;  "For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will 
one  die,  yet  peradventure  for  a  good  man  some  would 
even  dare  to  die.  But  God  commendeth  His  love  toward 
us,  in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us." 
I  want  to  prove  to  you  from  the  Scriptures  that  God  loves 
the  sinner,  and  that  God  loves  him  while  he  is  yet  in  his 
sins.  There  is  an  idea  among  some  people  that  there 
must  be  a  separation  from  sins  before  God  will  love  us. 
]  f  He  will  not  love  us  till  that,  then  He  can  never  love  us. 
While  you  are  in  your  sins,  God  loves  you  and  wants  to 
save  you.  "  But  can  there  be  love  towards  us  while  we 
are  yet  sinners  ?  "  I  hear  some  one  ask.  The  apostle 
says,  in  the  next  verse  :  "  For  if,  when  we  were  enemies, 
we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  much 
more,  being  reconciled,  we  shall  be  saved  by  His  life." 
That  is  it.  Christ  comes  to  bring  reconciliation  between 
God  and  the  sinner.  Just  call  upon  Him  in  your  sin,  tell 
it  all  out  and  ask  God  to  save  you,  and  see  how  quickly 


3^4 


TO  ALL  I'EOPLE. 


he  will  blot  out  all  your  iniquity.  Now,  let  me  say  right 
here,  that  if  you  are  going  to  wait  until  you  are  pure — 
until  you  are  free  from  sin — you  never  will  become  Chris- 
tians in  this  world.  If  we  could  have  got  rid  of  sin  with- 
out the  Son  of  God,  He  never  would  have  come.  A  great 
many  have  got  the  idea  that  because  they  are  sinners  God 
will  have  nothing  to  do  with  them  until  they  turn  ;  but  if 
you  are  willing  to  turn,  God  will  give  the  power  of  turning 
to  every  one  of  you.  You  often  hear  a  father  or  a  mother 
say  to  their  children  that  God  loves  them  as  long  as  they 
are  good  children,  thus  giving  the  impression  that  as  long 
as  they  are  good  they  are  God's,  and  that  when  bad  they 
belong  to  Satan.  They  are  often  bad,  and  their  temjeers 
break  down,  and  they  tell  lies,  and  then  they  have  the  idea 
that  God  hates  them  because  they  have  sinned.  Now  that 
is  false  training.  God  loves  sinners,  and  He  loves  that 
child  just  as  much  when  it  has  sinned  as  when  it  is  not 
going  astray.  When  you  see  the  child  of  a  drunkard  tum- 
ble down  you  do  not  say,  "That  is  the  child  of  a  drunk- 
ard." You  love  your  child  just  as  much  when  it  has  tum- 
bled down  as  when  it  is  standing  up.  It  grieves  you,  but 
at  the  same  time  you  love  that  child.  Then  there  is  an- 
other class  that  we  meet  in  the  inquiry-room — the  back- 
sliders. They  say,  "We  have  wandered  away  from  the 
Lord.  We  have  tasted  His  love  and  have  fallen  into  sin, 
and  we  cannot  come  back,  for  we  sinned  against  light. 
We  once  knew  Christ,  but  we  have  betrayed  Him  ;  and 
now  we  cannot  pray."  If  there  is  a  backslider  here  this 
afternoon  I  want  to  tell  him  that  he  can  pray.  There  are 
pra3^ers  printed  for  him  in  the  Word  of  God.  A  good 
many  people  don't  like  printed  prayers  ;  but  God  has  put 
the  very  words  of  reconciliation  between  the  backslider 
and  the  Saviour  in  His  Word.  In  Hosea,  14th  chapter, 
we  read  the  prophet's  entreaty  to  his  people  :  "  O  Israel, 
return  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  for  thou  hast  fallen  by  thy 


GOD'S  LOVE  FOR   THE  SIjViVER  ?  325 

iniquity.  Take  with  you  words  and  turn  to  the  Lord  : 
Say  unto  Him,  Take  away  all  iniquity  and  receive  us 
graciously  ;  so  will  we  render  the  calves  of  our  lips." 
Again  we  read  :  "  I  will  heal  their  backsliding  ;  I  will  love 
them  freely."  If  there  is  a  backslider  here  let  him  remem- 
ber that  God  can  save  him  ;  that  He  will  "  heal  his  back- 
sliding "  to-day  if  he  will  only  come  to  Him.  You  may 
have  turned  away  from  Him ;  but  God  loves  the  back- 
slider as  well  as  the  sinner.  He  loves  you  just  as  if  you 
^had  not  fallen.  Christ  loved  Peter  after  he  had  cursed 
Him  and  betrayed  Him  ;  and  He  gave  him  new  strength 
and  greater  usefulness  in  the  work.  Some  of  the  most 
beautiful  words  in  the  Bible  are  written  for  backsliders.  ^ 
In  the  Old  Testament  Jeremiah  just  pleads  with  his  back- 
slidden people  to  return  to  God.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
What  iniquity  have  your  fathers  found  in  Me  that  they  are 
gone  far  from  Me  and  have  walked  after  vanity  and  have 
become  vain  ? "  A  good  many  backsliders  are  full  of 
complaints.  They  say  that  the  church  which  they  joined 
didn't  treat  them  well ;  that  it  was  cold  ;  that  the  minister 
wasn't  just  what  he  ought  to  have  been  and  didn't  take 
enough  interest  in  them.  The  church  seems  cold  because  X 
they  look  at  it  with  cold  eyes.  Their  own  hearts  have  be- 
come a  cake  of  ice  and  they  think  that  the  hearts  of  all 
the  other  church  members  are  frozen.  But  if  everyone- 
else  has  gone  astray  it  is  your  duty  to  follow  Christ,  He 
is  a  perfect  example.  "  What  iniquity  do  ye  find  in  me  .?  " 
saith  the  Lord.  If  you  will  only  come  to  God — not  to  this 
church  or  that  church,  not  to  this  minister  or  that  minister, 
if  you  will  only  follow  Christ,  you  will  find  Him  true.  His 
salvation  never  faileth  nor  is  His  grace  wanting.  You 
who  have  forsaken  the  living  waters  for  the  broken  cisterns 
can  yet  find  salvation.  I  never  knew  a  backslider  who^ 
was  happy.  The  husks  do  not  satisfy  them.  But  you  can 
return.     In  your  sin   and  despair  God  asks  only  that  you 


-26  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

acknowledge  your  iniquity.  Others  have  stumbled.  How 
much  evil  one  backslider  can  do !  But  still  God  comes  to 
the  backslider  with  words  of  tenderness.  You  have  been 
married  to  Him,  so  to  speak,  and  have  gone  off  and  left 
Him.  "  Only  confess  your  iniquity,'"'  He  says  ;  "  that  is 
all  I  ask.  Just  confess  it  and  it  shall  never  be  mentioned 
again.'"'  You  may  be  professing  Christ,  and  yet  have  some 
secret  sin.  You  are  living  in  the  form  and  you  have 
not  the  power  of  godliness.  God  knows  all  about  that. 
He  knows  more  about  you  than  the  wife  of  your  bosona. 
He  reads  our  hearts  better  than  we  can  read  our  Bibles, 
and  He  knows  just  how  much  we  love  Him.  He  wants 
us  to  worship  Him  with  the  heart ;  He  wants  us  to  worship 
Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  There  is  one  thing  about  these 
backsliders,  and  I  want  you  to  bear  it  in  mind — the  back- 
slider has  got  into  a  pit,  and  he  has  to  get  out  just  where 
he  got  in.  There  is  no  other  way  but  by  the  grace  of  the 
Son  of  God.  You  have  forgotten  to  pray  ;  you  have  turned 
your  back  upon  God  ;  you  have  turned  away  from  Him ; 
you  have  said  you  could  be  saved  without  Him.  Oh,  to- 
night, acknowledge  your  transgressions,  turn  again  towards 
Him,  ask  Him  to  receive  you  again,  and  see  how  quick  he 
will  do  it.  Take  a  mother  that  has  got  eight  or  ten  chil- 
dren. One  is  the  black  sheep  of  the  flock.  He  may  have 
left  his  home.  He  has  been  go.ne  for  years.  There  was  a 
man  came  to  me  to-day  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  He  said 
the  sermon  just  hit  him.  Perhaps  he  was  that  boy  who 
had  wandered  from  that  loving  father  and  mother ;  if  you 
could  go  into  that  home  you  would  find  that  they  loved 
him  yet,  just  as  much  as  they  loved  the  others  and  perhaps 
a  little  more,  for  there  is  pity  mingled  with  love.  And  you 
will  hear  that  loving  godly  mother  praying  for  him  morning 
and  evening.  She  don't  know  where  he  is,  but  if  she 
knew  he  was  in  Boston,  she  would  come  from  a  thousand 
miles    away  to    seek    him    out.     Many   a   faithful,   lovingj 


GOD'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  SINNER.  327 

mother  would  go   round  the  world  to   seek  her  wandering 
boy,  if  she  knew  where  to  find  him. 

I  want  to  say  right  here,  now,  that  there  arc  many  who 
would  n.ot  class  themselves  among  the  backsliders,  who 
make  a  profession  of  Christianity,  but  who  have  not  the 
real  love  of  God  in  their  hearts.  Perhaps  there  may  be 
deacons,  or  elders,  or  church-wardens,  who  think  more  of 
their  denomination  then  they  do  of  Christ.  You  find  these 
men  setting  up  the  Episcopal  Church  a-s  the  true  church, 
or  the  Congregational  Church  as  the  true  church,  or  exalt- 
ing their  own  denomination.  When  a  man  puts  his  church 
ahead  of  Christ  it  is  a  pretty  good  proof  that  he  is  no  true 
Christian,  Churches  and  creeds  are  well  enough  in  their 
place,  but  it  is  a  person  that  we  worship,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Himself,  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  we  read  :  "If 
any  man  love  God,  the  same  is  known  of  him.''  How  deep 
is  your  love  for  God  to-day  t  Can  you  bear  persecution  for 
His  sake  ?  Are  you  willing  to  be  laughed  at  for  Him,  to 
be  sneered  and  jeered  as  a  fanatic  and  weak-minded  ?  God 
j^eads  the  heart  of  man  a  good  deal  easier  than  you  or  I  can 
read  a  book.  If  any  man  loves  God,  He  knows  how  dee^D 
or  how  shallow  his  love  is.  God  has  placed  His  mark  on  all. 
He  knows  His  own.  He  does  not  choose  them  because 
their  names  are  recorded  in  any  church  list.  The  Lord 
will  not  hunt  over  any  old  musty  church  record  to  see  if 
you  bear  His  mark.  God  knows  the  whole  heart,  and  none 
can  deceive  Him.  There  are  some  who  say:  "Oh,  well,  I 
have  no  doubt  about  God's  loving  me.  The  troublesome 
question  with  me  is.  Do  I  really  love  God  ?  "  That  is 
what  many  want  to  know.  In  the  inquiry-room,  if  you  ask 
a  man  if  he  is  a  Christian,  he  will  very  likely  say  in  a  hesi- 
tating way  :  "  Well,  I  hope  so,"  or,  "  Well,  I  am  trying  to  be  a 
Christian,"  That's  what  I  hear  a  great  deal  in  Boston — trying 
to  be  a  Christian,  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  complaint 
because  I  have  preached  the  doctrine  of  assurance.      It 


328  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

<k  isn't  my  doctrine.  Read  the  Bible  and  you  will  find  it 
when  a  man  says,  "  I  trust  I  am  saved,"  or,  "  I  hope  I  am 
a  Christian,"  or,  "  I  will  try  to  be  a  Christian."  I  generally 
say,  "  Will  you  try  to  be  an  American  ?  "  "^  This  astonishes 
them  and  they  say,  "  Why,  I  was  born  an  American."  And 
then  I  show  them  that  except  a  man  is  born  again  he  cannot 
enter  the  Kingdom  of  God.  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  Now, 
don't  go  off  with  the  delusion  of  one  who  went  away  this 
afternoon  with  the  idea  that  because  I  said  a  man  was  born 
naturally,  therefore  he  inferred  that  I  meant  he  was  born  of 
J  God.  It's  no  such  thing.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
ris  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  Spirit,  and 
the  spiritual  birth,  which  is  of  the  Spirit,  is  just  as  separate 
from  natural  birth,  which  is  of  the  flesh,  as  the  day  is  from  the 
night.  There  is  just  as  much  difference  between  the  nat- 
k^  ural  birth  and  the  spiritual  birth  as  there  is  between  the  ex- 
^  -  istence  of  God  and  the  existence  of  Satan.  One  is  in 
•  ^  league  with  death  and  hell,  and  the  other  takes  hold  of  the 
doctrine  of  faith  and  love.  When  a  man  has  become  a 
partaker  of  the  divine  nature  he  ought  to  know  it  j  and  if  he 
knows  much  about  his  Bible  he  will  find  it  out.  We  turn 
over  here  in  the  5th  chapter  of  Galatians  and  find  out 
what  the  Sjoirit  and  the  flesh  is.  That  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit  is  Spirit,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh. 
The  one  is  of  the  earth,  earthy.  The  other  is  of  Heaven, 
heavenly.  Some  people  say  we  can't  tell  until  we  are  before 
the  great  white  throne  of  judgment,  whether  we  are  to 
get  on  the  right  hand  side  of  God  or  on  the  left.  There's 
no  use  in  saying  that.  It  is  a  privilege  of  every  child  of 
God  to  say  now,  "  I  am  a  child  of  God."  People  say,  "  It 
doesn't  appear  what  we  shall  be.  W^e  are  strangers  in  a 
strange  land  ;  exiles  walking  in  His  likeness,  and  by  and  by 
we  shall  be  satisfied  on  which  side  we  shall  be."  I  tell  you 
we  can  say,  now,  "  We  are  children  of  God,  because  we  have 
been  born  in  Him."     If  a  man  will  just  go  to  the  word  of 


GOnS  LOVE  FOR  THE  SINNER.  329 

"^God  and  carefully  read,  he  can  soon  find  out  whether  he 
is  a  child  of  God,  or  whether  he  is  a  professor  of  religion, 
or  just  a  mere  empty  professor.  I  don't  know,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  want  just 
religion  enough  to  make  them  respectable  and  keep  them 
in  society.  I  tell  you  God  don't  want  that  kind  of  religion. 
We  are. told  there  shall  come  perilous  times : 

"  This  know,  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous  times 
shall  come.  For  men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves, 
covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient  to 
parents,  unthankful,  unholy,  without  natural  affection,  truce- 
breakers,  false  accusers,  incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of 
those  that  are  good,  traitors,  heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of 
pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God  ;  having  a  form  of  godli- 
ness, but  denying  the  power  thereof." 

When  we  are  denying  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  not  in  us.  We  don't  seek  it.  Some  men 
say,  "  I  don't  want  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  I 
had  it  I  would  be  like  Barnabas  and  Stephen.  It  might 
do  for  preachers,  but  not  for  a  business  man  like  me." 
How  easy  it  would  be  for  you  and  me  to  serve  God  if  we  were 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost !  Don't  cease  to  pray  that  God 
may  send  us  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  we 
imay  be  filled  with  it,  and  that  is  the  only  way  to  enjoy  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Oh,  I  pity  those  half-and-half 
Christians  trying  to  serve  God  and  the  world,  trying  to 
keep  the  world  in  one  hand  and  Christ  in  the  other — who 
say  that  they  love  world  and  love  Christ.  Miserable  way  of 
loving  !  Let  us  be  out  and  out  with  Christ — whole  hearted  ; 
loving  Him  for  Himself  alone,  and  put  the  w-orld  under  our 
feet. 

You  cannot  be  educated  to  be  a  Christian  ;  you  must 
be  born  into  the  Kingdom.  And  then  when  you  are  a 
child  of  God  you  will  love  the  things  that  God  loves.  What 
you  once  hated  you  will  love  ;  what  you  once  loved  you 


< 


33 o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

will  hate.  But  while  you  will  hate  sin  with  a  perfect  hatred 
__L  you  will  love  your  brother.  The  Bible  says,  "  If  a  man 
says  that  he  loves  God  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar." 
Hatred  and  love  cannot  reign  in  the  same  heart.  Mere 
profession  is  nothing  Do  you  love  your  brother  ?  The 
Spirit  of  Calvary  is  the  spirit  of  love.  "  Father,  forgive 
them,"  said  Christ  as  He  hung  upon  the  cross,  "  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  Again,  if  you  love  God  remem- 
ber that  you  will  love  the  things  which  are  of  God.  "  Love 
not  the  world,  nor  the  things  which  are  in  the  world," 
said  Christ.  If  you  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father 
is  not  in  you.  It  was  the  world  which  condemned  the  Son 
of  God  to  death,  and  it  must  be  crucified  to  the  new  man 
4  in  Christ  Jesus.  If  a  man  loves  the  world,  it  is  a  pretty 
good  proof  that  he  is  not  a  Christian.  The  Christian  is 
dead  to  this  world.  He  lives  a  resurrected  life,  and  has  left 
behind  the  kingdom  of  darkness  forever.  Henceforth  he 
lives  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God  on  the  earth.  When  you 
fi-nd  a  person  who  loves  fashion  and  the  pleasu-res  of  this 
life,  or  one  who  prefers  the  theatre  or  the  opera  to  meeting 
with  God,  God  is  not  in  the  heart.  The  world  is  at  emnity 
with  God,  and  fights  against  His  kingdom.  The  love  of  the 
world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  pride  of 
life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  of  the  world  ;  but  the  king- 
dom of  God  abideth  forever.  Don't  you  see  that  if  you 
get  your  heart  fixed  upon  earthly  things,  you  will  be  disap- 
pointed ;  but  if  your  heart  is  set  on  heavenly  things  you 
will  find  peace  all  the  while. 

"  For  this  cause,"  sa3^s  Paul,  "I  bow  my  knees  unto  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  whom  the  whole  family 
in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,  that  you  may  be  filled  with 
the  fulness  of  God."  He  prays  for  the  whole  family  of 
saints,  and  entreats  that  they  may  comprehend  with  all 
sa'nts,  "the  length  and  breadth  and  height  and  depth  of 
the  love  of  God," 


f^  GOD'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  SINNER.  (^31) 

Now  I  wish  you  would  mark  these  words — "  All  saints." 

That  isn't  a  few  Baptists,  a  few  Methodists,  a  few  PresFy- 

\    terians,  a  few  Congregationalists :  il  takes  in  the  whole — 

(    all  saints.     Wherever  there  is  a  saint  we  take  him  into  our 

fold.    Would  to  God  we  could  rise  above  these  party  names, 

and  just  take  in  the  whole  family  of  God. 

What  an  army  the  Christians  in  this  building  would  be 
if  they  could  grasp  this  knowledge  !  When  Prussia  went 
to  war  with  France  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  Communists 
got  hold  of  Paris,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop 
of  Paris  was  thrown  into  prison,  he  saw  over  his  door  a 
window  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  And  this  Catholic  Bishop 
wrote,  a  morning  or  two  before  his  death,  over  the  top  of 
the  cross,  "  Height,"  and  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  cross, 
"  Depth,"  and  on  the  end  of  each  arm  of  the  cross,  "  Length  " 
and  "  Breadth."  Ah,  this  Bishop,  who  the  next  day  went 
out  to  be  shot,  to  be  executed,  knew  the  love  of  God.  That 
love  stretches  from  heaven  to  the  borders  of  hell,  and  all  may 
be  saved  if  they  accept  it.  But  I  can  imagine  some  mother 
saying  :  ''  If  God  loves  me,  why  does  He  chasten  me  ?  "  Not 
twenty-four  hours  ago  a  woman  came  into  the  inquiry-room 
and  said :  "  If  God  loves  me,  why  has  He  bereaved  and 
afflicted  me  ?  "  Well  now,  there  was  an  answer  for  that 
woman  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Hebrews,  at  the  fifth 
verse  :  "  And  ye  have  forgotten  the  exhortation  which 
speaketh  unto  you  as  unto  children  :  My  son,  despise  not 
the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked 
of  Him." 

I  remember  a  few  years  ago,  that  my  little  girl  used  to 
be  in  the  habit  of  getting  up  cross  some  mornings.  You 
know  how  it  is  when  any  member  of  ygur  family  does  not 
get  up  in  a  sweet  temper ;  it  disturbs  all  the  rest  of  the 
family.  Well,  one  morning  she  got  up  cross,  and  spoke  in 
a  cross  way,  and,  finally,  I  said  to  her,  "  Emma,  if  you 
speak  in  that  way  again,   I  shall   have   to  punish   you." 


^ 


332  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Now  it  was  not  because  I  didn't  love  her  ;  it  was  because 
I  did  love  her,  and  if  I  had  to  correct  it  was  for  the  good 
of  the  little  child.  Well,  that  went  off  all  right.  One 
morning  she  got  up  cross  again.  I  said  nothing,  but  when 
she  was  getting  ready  to  go  to  school  she  came  up  to  me 
and  said.  "  Papa,  kiss  me."  I  said,  "  Emma,  I  cannot 
kiss  you  this  morning."  She  said,  "Why,  father.?"  "  Be- 
cause you  have  been  cross  again  this  morning  ;  I  cannot 
kiss  you."  She  said,  "  Why,  papa,  you  never  refused  to 
kiss  me  before."  "Well,  you  have  been  naughty  this 
morning."  "  Why  don't  you  kiss  me  1  "  she  said  again. 
"  Because  you  have  been  naughty.  You  will  have  to  go 
to  school  without  your  kiss."  She  went  into  the  other 
room  w^here  her  mother  was  and  said,  "  Mamma,  papa 
don't  love  me.  He  won't  kiss  me.  I  wish  you  would 
go  and  get  him  to  kiss  me."  But  her  mother  said, 
"You  know,  Emma,  that  your  father  loves  you,  but  you 
have  been  naughty."  So  she  couldn't  be  kissed,  and  she 
went  down  stairs  crying  as  if  her  heart  would  break ^  and  I 
loved  her  so  well  that  the  tears  came  into  my  eyes.  I 
could  not  help  crying,  and  when  I  heard  her  going  down 
stairs  I  could  not  keep  down  my  tears.  I  think  I  loved 
her  then  better  than  I  ever  did,  and  when  I  heard  the 
door  close  I  went  to  the  window  and  saw  her  going  down 
the  street  weeping.  I  didn't  feel  good  all  that  day.  I  be- 
lieve I  felt  a  good  deal  worse  than  the  child  did,  and  I  was 
anxious  for  her  to  come  home.  How  long  that  day  seemed 
to  me !  And  when  she  came  home  at  night  and  came  to 
me  and  asked  me  to  forgive  her,  and  told  me  how  sorry  she 
felt,  how  gladly  I  took  her  up  and  kissed  her,  and  how 
happy  she  went  up  stairs  to  her  bed.  It  is  just  so  with 
God.  He  loves  you,  and  when  He  chastises  you,  it  is  for 
your  own  good. 

We  have   a  thousand  afflictions  where  we  would  have 
only  one  if  we  were  not,  like  sheep,  always  going  astray. 


GOD'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  SINNER.  333 

The  children  whom  God  sends  as  blessings  become  idols ; 
and  love  and  affection  centre  in  them,  and  God  is  forgotten. 
Then  the  chastening  is  brought  to  bear.  Sometimes,  when 
a  father  or  mother  corrects  a  child,  the  child  becomes  very 
angry  and  rebellious,  and  says  very  bitter  things  ;  but  then 
it  has  to  be  punished  all  the  harder.  You  fathers  and 
mothers  know  that  if  a  boy  is  saucy,  if  he  is  ugly  and  kicks, 
you  put  the  rod  on  all  the  harder.  When  I  was  a  boy  my 
mother  used  to  send  me  out  doors  to  get  a  birch  stick  to 
whip  me  with  ;  and  at  first  I  used  to  stand  off  from  the  rod 
as  far  as  I  could.  But  I  soon  found  that  the  whipping  hurt 
me  more  this  way  than  any  other  ;  and  so  I  went  as  near  to 
my  mother  as  I  could,  and  found  the  punishment  lighter. 
'And  so  when  God  chastens  us  let  us  kiss  the  rod  and  draw 
as  near  to  Him  as  we  can.  Some  one  has  said  that  God 
sent  one  Son  into  the  world  without  sin  ;  but  no  son  with- 
out sorrow.  We  are  not  able  to  read  the  problem  now,  or 
to  see  just  why  we  are  afflicted  ;  but  by  and  by  we  shall 
know  and  all  will  be  plain.  There  is  one  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture which  has  always  been  a  great  comfort  to  me.  In  the 
8th  chapter  of  Romans,  Paul  says :  "  All  things  work 
together  for  good  to  those  who  love  the  Lord."  A  few  years 
ago  a  little  child  of  mine  had  the  scarlet  fever  ;  and  I  went 
to  the  druggist's  to  get  the  prescription  which  the  doctor 
had  ordered,  and  told  him  to  be  sure  and  be  very  careful  in 
making  it  up.  And  the  druggist  took  down  one  bottle  after 
another,  in  any  one  of  v/hich  there  might  be  what  would  be 
rank  poison  for  my  child  ;  but  he  stirred  them  together  and 
..  mixed  them  up,  and  made  just  the  medicine  which  ray  child 
\  needed,  and  so  God  gives  to  us  a  little  adversity  here,  a 
little  prosperity  there,  and  works  all  for  our  good.  God  is 
love.  Satan  has  been  trying  to  blot  out  this  truth  for  a 
thousand  years  ;  but  it  is  still  true  spite  of  the  devil's  lies. 
/^n  the  Song  of  Solomon  we  read  of  the  Lord  :  "  His  left 
hand  is  under  my  head,  and  His  right  arm  doth  embrace 
me.     His   banner  is  love  ! "     God  wants  us  all  to  come 


234  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

under  that  banner  to-day.  There  was  a  man  who  came  to 
this  country  from  England  and  was  naturaUzed  ;  and  after 
a  year  or  two  he  went  to  Cuba.  War  broke  out  m  1867 
there  ;  and  this  man,  though  perfectly  innocent,  was  arrest- 
ed as  a  spy  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  court-martialled, 
tried  and  condemned  to  be  shot.  He  appealed  to  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  consuls,  and  they  examined  him  and 
found  that  he  was  innocent,  and  went  to  the  Spanish  au- 
thorities and  said,  "  He  is  not  guilty  of  this  charge ;  he 
must  not  be  shot."  But  the  Spanish  officials  said  he  had 
been  tried  by  their  laws  and  found  guilty,  and  must  die. 
There  was  no  telegraph  to  Cuba  then,  and  no  time  to  hear 
from  their  Governments  about  the  matter.  The  law  must 
take  its  course.  The  morning  of  the  day  of  execution  came. 
The  man  was  carried,  with  his  coffin,  to  the  spot  where  his 
open  grave  had  just  been  dug.  As  he  is  sitting  on  the 
coffin,  and  just  while  the  soldiers  are  awaiting  the  order 
"  Fire,"  suddenly  the  noise  of  a  carriage  rapidly  driven  is 
heard.  The  American  and  English  consuls  step  to  the 
place  of  the  condemned  man.  One  wraps  around  him  the 
Star  Spangled  Banner,  the  other  the  Union  Jack.  They 
say  to  the  soldiers,  "  Fire  on  these  flags  if  you  dare  !  "  And 
they  dared  not  fire,  and  the  man  was  released.  It  was  not 
the  flags  which  they  feared,  but  the  two  powerful  Govern- 
m.ents  which  were  behind  the  flags.  To-day,  God  calls  you 
to  come  under  His  banner  of  love.  Legions  of  angels  will 
V  help  you,  and  God  Himself  will  protect  you  and  keep  you. 
But  if  you  do  not  accept  His  love,  if  you  reject  His  sal- 
vation, do  not  think  that  God  will  receive  harlots  and 
drunkards,  and  sinners,  unredeemed,  into  His  kingdom. 
If  you  die  in  your  sins,  there  is  not  in  the  Bible  one  ray  of 
hope  to  show  that  there  will  be  opportunity  to  repent  here- 
after. Now  is  the  accepted  time  of  salvation.  Come  under 
the  banner  of  love.  May  the  God  of  grace  help  you  to 
come  under  the  banner  now  and  recognize  Him  as  your 
Lord  and  Saviour.     May  you  come  to-night  and  be  saved. 


X 


THE  MIRACLE  OF  PETER. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  in  the  third  chapter  of  Acts : 

"  Now  Peter  and  John  went  up  together  into  ihe  temple 
at  the  hour  of  prayer,  being  the  ninth  hour."  (Or  3  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.) 

"  And  a  certain  man  lame  from  his  mother's  womb  was 
carried,  whom  they  laid  daily  at  the  gate  of  the  temple 
which  is  called  Beautiful,  to  ask  alms  of  them  that  entered 
into  the  temple  ; 

"  Who  seeing  Peter  and  John  about  to  go  into  the 
temple  asked  an  alms ; 

"  And  Peter,  fastening  his  eyes  upon  him  with  John, 
said,  Look  on  us. 

"  And  he  gave  heed  unto  them,  expecting  to  receive 
something  of  them." 

There  was  no  small  stir  in  Jerusalem  at  that  time.  A 
great  revival  was  going  on,  and  only  a  few  days  before 
there  had  been  3000  converted,  and  John  and  Peter  were 
the  most  conspicuous  people  in  Jerusalem  at  that  time. 
This  lame  beggar  had  heard  of  how  many  that  were  rich 
had  sold  their  possessions,  and  he  thought  Peter  and  John 
had  plenty  of  money,  and  he  would  get  a  lift  from  them. 
He  did  not  look  any  higher  than  money.  He  would  have 
been  satisfied  with  a  sixpence,  and  would  have  considered 
it  a  good  day's  work.  But  the  Lord  had  something  better 
than  that  m  store  for  that  poor  man.  Then  Peter  said : 
"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none  " — if  he  had  been  like  a 
good  many  people  now,  he  would  have  said :  "  That's 
what  I  expected  ;  that's  the  way  with  Christians  ;  they 
won't  help  a  poor  fellow  ;  if  they  haven't  got  any  money 
they  could  get  some  if  they  wanted  to."  Then  Peter  said, 
"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  give  I 

33S 


336  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

thee."  If  that  beggar  had  been  like  a  good  many  people 
nowadays,  he  would  have  said,  "  That's  just  what  I  ex- 
pected. These  folks  pretend  to  be  Christians,  yet  they 
won't  help  a  poor  beggar.  They  pretend  that  they  haven't 
got  any  silver  or  gold  ;  but  they  can  get  some  if  they  want 
to." 

"  Then  Peter  said,  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none  ;  but 
such  as  I  have  give  I  thee  :  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Nazareth  rise  up  and  walk. 

"  And  he  took  him  by  the  right  hand,  and  lifted  him  up  : 
immediately  his  feet  and  ancle  bones  received  strength." 

He  wasn't  ashamed  to  take  that  poor  beggar  by  the 
right  hand  and  lift  him  up.  And  that's  just  what  the 
Church  wants  to  do  now — take  the  poor  beggars  by  the 
right  hand  and  lift  them  up  into  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  And  he  leaping  up  stood,  and  walked,  and  entered 
with  them  into  the  temple,  walking,  and  leaping,  and  prais- 
ing God. 

"  And  all  the  people  saw  him  walking  and  praising 
God  :  " 

That's  the  young  convert.  He  had  never  walked 
before.  See,  he  begins  to  leap,  and  you  can  see  him  jump- 
ing there  in  the  Temple.  If  there  had  been  some  conserva- 
tive man  there  he  would  say,  "  Don't  you  get  excited  ;  the 
idea  of  a  man  leaping  in  the  Temple ! "  But  he  jumped, 
•  he  shouted,  and  doubtless  he  praised  God  and  shouted, 
"  Hallelujah,  what  a  Saviour !  I  have  got  His  peace  !  " 
He  was  made  well. 

"  And  they  knew  that  it  was  he  which  sat  for  alms  at 
the  Beautiful  gate  of  the  temple  :  and  they  were  filled  with 
wonder  and  amazement  at  that  which  had  happened  unto 
him. 

"  And  as  the  lame  man  which  was  healed  held  Peter 
and  John,  all  the  people  ran  together  unto  them  in  the 
porch  that  is  called  Solomon's,  greatly  wondering. 

"  And  when  Peter  saw  it,  he  answered  unto  the  people, 
Ye  men  of  Israel,  why  marved  ye  at  this  ?  or  why  look  ye  so 


THE  MIRACLE  OF  PETER.  33^ 

earnestly  on  us,  as  though  by  our  own  power  01  holiness 
we  had  made  this  man  to  walk. 

"  The  God  of  Abraham,  and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  the 
God  of  our  fathers,  hath  glorified  his  Son  Jesus  ;  whom 
ye  delivered  up,  and  denied  him  in  the  presence  of  Pilate, 
when  he  was  determined  to  let  him  go. 

"  But  ye  denied  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just,  and  de- 
sired a  murderer  to  be  granted  unto  you  ; 

"  And  killed  the  Prince  of  life,  whom  God  hath  raised 
from  the  dead  ;  whereof  we  are  witnesses. 

"And  his  name  through  faith  in  his  name  hath  maile 
this  man  strong,  whom  ye  see  and  know :  yea,  the  faith 
which  is  by  him  hath  given  him  this  perfect  soundness  in 
the  presence  of  you  all. 

"  And  now,  brethren,  I  wot  that  through  ignorance  ye 
did  it,  as  did  also  your  rulers." 

So  he  went  on  preaching  right  there  in  the  Temple,  for 
Peter  and  John  were  so  greatly  heart  and  soul  in  this  work 
that  they  carried  the  gospel  right  into  the  Temple.  The 
whole  city  seems  to  have  been  moved  under  their  mighty 
power.  And  we  are  told  in  the  next  chapter  that  the  chief 
priest  of  the  Sadducees  came  upon  them  and  arrested 
them,  and  put  them  into  prison  ;  but,  thank  God,  before 
they  were  arrested  there  were  5000  converted.  They  had 
done  a  good  day's  work.  Here  was  this  impotent  man 
saved,  and  when  they  were  brought  before  the  council  the 
next  day,  Peter  in  his  own  defence  utters  these  words : 

"  And  when  they  had  set  them  in  the  midst,  they  asked, 
By  what  power,  or  by  what  name,  have  ye  done  this  .'' 

"  Then  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  said  unto 
them,  Ye  rulers  of  the  people,  and  elders  of  Israel, 

"  If  we  this  day  be  examined  of  the  good  deed  done  to 
the  impotent  man,  by  what  means  he  is  made  whole ; 

"  Be  it  known  unto  you  all,  and  to  all  the  people  of 
Israel,  that  by  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom 
ye  crucified,  whom  God  raised  from  the  dead,  even  by 
him  doth  this  man  stand  here  before  you  whole. 

"  This  is  thje  stone  which  was  set  at  nought  of  you 
builders,  which  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner. 

22 


338  7^^  ALL  PEOPLE, 

"  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other  :  for  there  is 
none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby 
we  must  be  saved. 

"  Now  when  they  saw  the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John, 
and  perceived  that  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men, 
they  marvelled ;  and  they  took  knowledge  of  them,  that 
they  had  been  with  Jesus." 

Now,  I  want  to   call  your  attention  to  the  fourteenth 

veise  : 

"  And  beholding  the  man  which  was  healed  standing 
with  them,  they  could  say  nothing  against  it." 

There  was  a  man  lame  from  his  mother's  womb. 
He  had  never  been  able  to  walk  before.  "  And  beholding 
the  man  which  was  healed  standing  among  them,  they 
could  say  nothing  against  it."  Let  me  say  just  right  here 
now  we  are  living  in  the  days  of  the  Acts.  The  days  ar^- 
repeated  right  over  again  here  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Men 
who  have  been  down  twenty  or  thirty  years  overcome  with 
this  terrible  appetite  for  rum,  have  been  made  whole  by 
the  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — by  His  great  and 
saving  power  ;  and  I  can't  understand  how  men  can  be 
questioning  whether  it  is  a  work  of  God  or  of  man.  How 
is  it  that  these  men  are  getting  victory  over  their  a^Dpetiles, 
the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil — men  who  have  tried  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years  and  have  failed,  who  now  rise  up  and 
tell  us  that  they  have  been  kept  by  the  mighty  power  of 
God,  by  His  name,  if  they  do  not  get  their  power  from 
Him  ?  "  And  beholding  the  man  which  was  healed  stand- 
ing with  them,  they  could  say  nothing  against  it."  We 
want  to  bring  on  the  witnesses  to-day.  Some  men  still 
doubt  whether  this  is  the  work  of  God  or  of  man.  Now, 
let  us  pray  God  that  these  men  that  shall  speak  may  have 
strength  in  the  Lord  Jesus  to  tell  what  great  things  the 
Lord  has  done  for  them,  and  how  they  have  got  the  victory. 
Let  us  spend  a  few  moments  in  silent  prayer. 


WORKING  FOR  CHRIST. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  from  the  ist  chapter  of  John. 
A  man  wanted  to  know  of  me  yesterday  how  he  could  tell 
if  he  had  been  born  of  God.  Now  one  of  the  evidences 
that  we  are  children  of  God  is,  we  have  a  desire  for  others ; 
our  heart  will  go  out  after  others.  If  a  man  has  become  a 
true  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  he  will  want  to  disci- 
ple some  one  else  ;  bring  some  one  else.  Now  we  find  here, 
in  the  41st  verse,  that  Andrew,  after  he  had  the  interview 
with  Christ,  the  next  thing  we  hear  of  him  is  hunting  up 
his  own  brother. 

"  He  first  findeth  his  own  brother  Simon,  and  saith 
unto  him,  We  have  found  the  Alessias,  which  is,  being  in- 
terpreted, the  Christ. 

"  And  he  brought  him  to  Jesus.  And  when  Jesus 
beheld  him  He  said,  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona  :  thou 
shalt  be  called  Cephas,  which  is  by  interpretation,  A  stone. 

"  The  day  following  Jesus  would  go  forth  into  Galilee, 
and  findeth  Philip,  and  saith  unto  him,  Follow  me." 

Then  we  read  that  Philip  found  Nathaniel  and  brought 
him  to  Christ.  Many  societies  have  been  formed  in  Bos- 
ton, but  we  want  one  more,  we  want  a  Philip  and  Andrew 
society  of  those  who  will  make  personal  efforts  to  bring  some 
one  to  Christ.  If  you  find  Christ  go  and  tell  some  one 
else.  Let  us  follow  the  footsteps  of  Philip  and  Andrew. 
Now,  in  the  the  3d  chapter  of  John,  we  find  Nicodemus 
coming  to  Christ,  and  inquiring  the  way  to  be  saved.  The 
last  time  that  we  hear  of  him  we  are  almost  afraid  that  he 
would  be  turned  away  sorrowful,  that  he  never  could  become 
a  true  child  of  God,  as  in  the  case  of  the  young  man  we 

33Q 


240  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

were  told  of  yesterday.  But  we  read  of  him  again  in  the 
7  th  chapter,  50th  verse. 

"  Nicodemussaithunto  them,  (he  that  came  to  Jesus  by 
night,  being  one  of  them,) 

"  Doth  our  law  judge  any  man,  before  it  hear  him,  and 
know  what  he  doeth  .? 

"  They  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  also  of 
Galilee  ?  Search,  and  look  :  for  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no 
prophet. 

"  And  every  man  went  unto  his  own  house." 

Then  we  find  Nicodemus  standing  up  for  Christ  in  that 
council  chamber,  and  again  at  the  cross  he  takes  his  stand 
on  the  Lord's  side.  We  turn  over  again  into  the  4th 
chapter  of  John,  and  we  find  a  woman  that  Christ  met  at 
the  well  of  Samaria,  and  if  we  had  only  got  the  first  part  of 
that  chapter,  where  He  offered  her  the  gift  of  eternal  life 
and  it  stopped  there,  we  would  have  been  afraid  that  she 
hadn't  been  saved  ;  we  look  for  something  else.  Then  in 
the  39th  verse  we  read  that  "  many  of  the  Samaritans  of 
that  city  believed  on  Him  for  the  saving  of  the  woman, 
which  testified  He  told  me  all  that  ever  I  did." 

"  So  when  the  Samaritans  were  come  unto  him,  they 
besought  him  that  he  would  tarry  with  them  :  and  he 
abode  there  two  days. 

"  And  many  more  believed,  because  of  his  own  word." 

She  got  a  good  many  converts  and  Christ  got  more, 
but  it  was  because  she  went  in  there  and  confessed  to  Christ 
that  He  went  into  that  town  and  stayed  two  days.  He 
never  would  have  gone  into  that  town  if  that  woman  hadn't 
been  faithful.  A  great  many  want  to  be  disciples  but  they 
want  to  be  secret  disciples.  If  you  want  to  have  a  great 
blessing  for  your  soul  not  only  be  a  disciple  of  Christ,  but 
come  out  boldly  and  confess  Him. 

In  the  5th  chapter  of  Luke  27th  verse  we  read. 

"  And  after  these  things  he  went  forth,  and  saw  a  pub- 
lican, named  Levi,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom  :  and  he 
said  unto  him,  Follow  me 


WORKING  FOR  CHRIST.  34! 

"  And  he  left  all,  rose  up,  and  followed  him." 

Iveft  his  business  and  went  right  off  at  once. 

*'  And  Levi  made  Him  a  great  feast  in  his  own  house  : 
and  there  was  a  great  company  of  publicans  and  of  others 
that  sat  down  with  them." 

There  is  the  gospel  flowing  right  out.  He  went  and 
got  all  the  publicans  together  ;  he  was  just  the  man  to 
reach  the  publicans  ;  he  was  a  publican  himself,  and  if  the 
Lord  had  blessed  him  he  was  the  man.  It  seems  to  me 
we  are  getting  back  to  the  primitive  days.  I  am  glad  to 
hear  of  the  meeting  among  the  marketmen  and  among  the 
men  who  have  been  taken  captive  by  drink.  A  man  who  has 
been  a  drunkard  and  is  saved  is  the  man  to  work  among  the 
drunkards  and  tell  them  of  the  glorious  hope.  The  young 
converts  should  imitate  Levi  and  invite  their  friends  to  a 
feast,  and  tell  them  what  great  things  the  Lord  has  done 
for  them.  Levi  got  up  a  dinner,  and  I  haven't  a  doubt  but 
what  there  was  an  inquiry  meeting  after  it,  in  which  the 
ways  of  the  Lord  were  explained  more  fully.  Levi  was 
trying  to  get  some  one  to  the  Master.  And  I  would  say  to  the 
converts,  get  up  a  meeting,  get  up  a  dinner.  If  you  cannot 
get  up  a  great  feast,  get  up  a  good  plain  meal.  If  you  are 
a  wealthy  man,  get  up  a  great  feast  and  invite  all  your 
friends  and  neighbors,  and  tell  what  great  things  the  Lord 
has  done  for  you.     Then  we  read  : 

"  But  their  scribes  and  Pharisees  murmured  against  his 
disciples,  saying.  Why  do  ye  eat  and  drink  with  publicans 
and  sinners } 

"  And  Jesus  answering  said  unto  them.  They  that  are 
whole  need  not  a  physician  ;  but  they  that  are  sick. 

"  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  re- 
pentance." 

The  Pharisees  here  were  at  their  old  business — mur- 
muring and  complaining.  They  kept  that  up  all  the  time. 
It  would  have  been  a  good  thing  if  they  had  all  died  off  in 
that  generation,  but  we  have  a  great  many  of  their  2:rand 


342  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

children  left  in  Boston  yet,  who  are  always  complaining,  no 
matter  what  is  done.  If  we  are  redeemed  let  us  say  so.  Let 
him  whom  he  hath  redeemed  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
confess  it.  Zaccheus  was  another  character.  He  had  been 
taking  that  which  was  unlawful,  and  he  made  restitution. 
The  Pharisees  murmured  at  that ;  they  would  murmur  at  any- 
thing, no  matter  what.  Now  let  us  come  out  as  Levi  did,  as 
Zaccheus  did,  as  the  poor  fallen  woman  at  the  well  at  Sa- 
maria did.  and  confess  Christ.  Let  us  follow  the  footsteps  of 
Andrew,  and  not  be  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
May  the  blessing  of  God  fall  on  these. business  men.  Now 
tj-day  I  have  been  thinking  that  we  should  have  a  thanks- 
giving from  those  who  come  here.  That  is  the  way  to  confess 
Christ,  to  give  thanks.  Perhaps  some  one  here  has  a  daugh- 
ter who  has  been  converted ;  perhaps  some  one  here  is 
a  deacon,  and  God  has  blessed  the  church.  Let  us  have 
a  thanksgiving  meeting  now,  and  hear  a  few  words  from 
one  another,  and  then  we  can  hear  a  great  many. 


FIVE  CHRISTIAN  REQUISITES. 


1  WILL  read  a  few  verses  from  the  ist  Epistle  of  John, 
4th  chapter,  beginning  at  the  7  th  verse : 

"  Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another  :  for  love  is  of  God ; 
and  every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knovveth 
God. 

"  He  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not  God  ;  for  God  is  love. 

"  In  this  was  manifested  the  love  of  God  toward  us,  be- 
cause that  God  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world, 
that  we  might  live  through  him. 

"  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he 
loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins. 

"  Beloved,  if  God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also  to  love  one 
another. 

"No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time.  If  we  love  one 
another,  God  dwelleth  in  us,  and  his  love  is  perfected  in 
us. 

"  Hereby  know  we  that  we  dwell  in  him,  and  he  in  us, 
because  he  hath  given  us  of  his  Spirit. 

"And  we  have  seen  and  do  testify  that  the  Father  sent 
the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

"  Whosoever  shall  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God, 
God  dwelleth  in  him,  and  he  in  God. 

"And  we  have  known  and  believed  the  love  that  God 
hath  to  us.  God  is  love  ;  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love 
dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him. 

"  Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have 
boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment :  because  as  he  is,  so  are 
we  in  this  world. 

"  There  is  no  fear  in  love  ;  but  perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear:  because  fear  hath  torment.  He  that  feareth  is  not 
made  perfect  in  love. 

"  We  love  him,  because  he  first  loved  us. 

"  If  a  man  say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he 

343 


344  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

is   a  liar :    for  he  that  loveth   not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ? 

"  And  this  commandment  have  we  from  him,  That  he 
who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also. 

In  these  few  words  I  have  read  to  you  there  are  a  few 
thoughts  1  want  to  call  your  attention  to.  I  might  say  five 
things  that  are  necessary  for  every  Christian  to  have.  The 
first  is  love.  We  get  that  in  the  9th  verse :  "  God  sent 
his  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world  that  we  might  live 
through  him."  Now  there  is  no  life,  no  spiritual  life,  till 
we  know  Christ ;  or  in  other  words,  Christ  is  that  life  Him- 
self. There  are  a  good  many  people  now  that  are  troubled 
about  the  new  birth  ;  they  want  to  know  what  it  means.  To 
be  born  again  is  to  have  Christ  in  the  soul ;  that  is  the 
new  birth,  and  with  that  life  we  serve  God,  and  we  cannot 
serve  God  till  Christ  is  formed  in  us — the  hope  of  glory. 
That  is  the  life  that  all  want.  Our  prayers  are  not  prayers 
till  Christ  is  there  ;  with  that  life  we  serve  Him.  Then 
the  next  thing  we  get  is  in  the  loth  verse,  that  sin  is  put 
away.  That  is  peace.  What  every  Christian  wants  is  peace 
to  the  soul.  He  gets  that  by  knowing  that  sin  has  been 
atoned  for,  propitiation  made.  Christ  has  forever  settled 
the  question  of  sin — it  has  been  put  away ;  it  is  at  rest  as 
we  look  back  to  Calvary,  knowing  the  cross  has  put  away 
sin.  We  are  ready  to  serve  God  because  sin  is  out  of  the 
way.  The  next  thing  is  in  the  nth  verse:  "  Beloved,  if 
God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also  to  love  one  another."  We 
have  got  to  have  love.  You  cannot  do  a  man  any  good 
unless  you  love  him.  Let  us  see  if  we  have  life,  peace  and 
love.  The  next  thing  is  power.  We  get  that  in  the  13th 
verse :  "  Hereby  know  we  that  we  dwell  in  him,  and  he 
in  us,  because  he  hath  given  us  of  his  Spirit."  That  is 
power.  There  is  really  no  power  without  the  Holy  Ghost  j 
it  is  Holy  Ghost  power  that  we  want.  We  want  the  Holy 
Ghost  resting  on  us  for  service.  Many  of  you  have  passed 


FIVE   CHRISTIAN  REQUISITES.  345 

through  experience  of  how  easy  it  is  to  talk  for  Qod  when 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  resting  in  you  for  service,  and  how  hard 
it  has  been  when  you  haci  no  power.  Perhaps  sin  has  come 
between  you  and  God,  and  of  course  then  the  power  is 
gone.  Therefore,  let  us  see  that  we  have  that  qualifica- 
tion. 

Then  the  next  thing  is  boldness.  That  is  one  of  the 
traits  that  a  great  many  lack  at  the  present  time.  There 
is  so  much  scoffing  and  ridicule  that  many,  if  you  will 
allow  me  the  use  of  the  expression,  haven't  backbone 
enough  to  stand  up  and  confess  Christ  boldly  wherever  their 
lot  maybe  cast.  We  find  that  in  the  17th  verse,  "Herein 
is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have  boldness  in  the 
day  of  judgment."  We  want  it  now  while  Christ  is  being 
misrepresented  and  laughed  about,  and  if  we  have  it  here 
we  will  have  it  in  the  day  of  judgment,  for  Christ  is  with 
us.  We  are  on  the  Lord's  side,  and  we  are  always  in  the 
majority  when  we  are  with  God.  The  idea  that  there  are 
only  a  few  that  serve  God  is  a  false  one.  Let  us  be  full  of 
boldness  and  courage.  I  once  heard  of  a  man  who  was 
tried  for  murder,  and  the  judge,  the  jury,  and  the  whole 
court  were  amazed  to  see  how  calm  and  cool  the  man  was. 
It  seemed  that  he  had  a  friend  at  court  who  had  procured 
a  pardon  for  him.  The  Emperor  said.  Let  the  law  take  its 
course,  and  when  he  is  found  guilty  let  him  bring  out  his 
p.udon.  The  man  still  continued  unmoved,  and  when  the 
judge  came  to  charge  the  jury  everyone  was  still  amazed 
at  his  coolness.  Witness  after  witness  testified  that  he  was 
guilty  of  the  act,  and  when  the  man  was  asked  to  produce 
his  witnesses  for  the  defence  he  didn't  seem  to  take  any 
interest  in  the  case.  The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
and  the  man  was  condemned  to  be  hung, — but  the  man 
naving  got  his  pardon,  put  it  down  and  walked  out.  So 
when  a  man  has  got  his  sins  forgiven,  he  has  got  his  pardon 
of  Christ,  and  he  has  nothing  to  fear. 


PRAYER 


I  WILL  just  read  a  few  verses  of  Scripture  and  then  the 
meeting  will  be  thrown  open.  We  want  to  hear  from  as 
many  as  possible,  and  we  want  a  good  deal  of  prayer.  We 
felt  that  the  meetings  at  the  Tabernacle  were  too  large, 
and  we  wo*ild  rather  have  smaller  meetings,  where  friends 
could  pray.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  true  revival  that 
is  not  brought  about  by  a  good  deal  of  prayer,  and  if  we 
have  a  work  of  grace  that  is  going  to  be  deep  and  thorough 
in  this  city  we  have  got  to  have  more  prayer  than  we  have 
had.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to-day  to  the  prayers 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Although  He  was  God,  yet  He  was  man ; 
as  man  He  prayed,  and  as  God  He  answered  prayer.  And 
He  encouraged  others  to  come  to  Him  with  their  burdens, 
and  He  was  constantly  praying  because  He  was  an  example 
to  others.  In  the  3d  chapter  of  Luke,  21st  verse,  we  find 
that  when  He  was  baptized  He  was  praying : 

"Now  M^hen  all  the  people  were  baptized,  it  came  to 
pass,  that  Jesus  also  being  baptized,  and  praying,  the 
heaven  was  opened, 

"  And  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  in  a  bodily  shape 
like  a  dove  upon  him,  and  a  voice  came  from  heaven, 
which  said.  Thou  art  my  beloved  Son ;  in  thee  I  am  well 
pleased." 

Then  we  read  again  in  Luke  ix.  28,  how  He  took 
Peter,  John  and  James,  and  went  up  into  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  and  while  He  was  praying.  His  counte- 
nance was  tiansfigured,  and  there  came  a  voice,  saying, 
"  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 
346 


PR  A  YER. 


347 


In  John   xii.  27  we  find  Him  praying  again  ;  it  was  when 
they  were  about  to  kill  Him  : 

"  Now  is  my  soul  troubled ;  and  what  shall  I  say  ? 
Father,  save  me  from  this  hour :  but  for  this  cause  came  I 
unto  this  hour. 

"  Father,  glorify  thy  name.  Then  came  there  a  voice 
from  heaven,  saying,  I  have  both  glorified  it,  and  v/ill 
glorify  it  again." 

Then  in  Luke  xxii.  42,  43,  we  find  Him  praying,  and 
He  sweat,  as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood,  and  as  He 
prayed  an  angel  appeared  to  Him  and  strengthened  Him, 
and  we  find  that  these  four  times  which  are  recorded  when 
He  was  praying,  when  He  heard  from  heaven,  it  was  really 
His  prayers  that  opened  heaven.  As  it  was  with  Stephen  ; 
when  he  was  dying  he  prayed  and  the  heavens  opened 
before  him.  Now  if  we  are  going  to  have  the  windows  of 
heaven  opened  and  the  Spirit  of  God  descending  in  mighty 
power  upon  this  city,  it  is  going  to  be  in  answer  to  prayer 
and  earnest  supplication.  Then,  in  the  6th  chapter  of 
Luke  and  the  12  th  verse,  before  He  chose  His  disciples,  it 
was  a  matter  of  prayer  to  Him  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in 
those  days  that  he  went  out  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and 
continued  all  night  in  prayer  to  God."  Continued  all 
night.  "  And  when  it  was  day  he  called  ujito  him  his  dis- 
ciples, and  of  them  he  chose  twelve,  whom  also  he  named 
apostles."  So  the  night  before  He  chose  those  twelve 
that  were  to  shake  the  world  and  be  a  blessing  to  the  world 
and  establish  the  Church  of  God  on  earth,  He  spent  that 
night  in  prayer.  And  so,  my  friends,  if  we  are  going  to  do 
a  great  work  for  God  we  must  spend  much  time  in  prayer, 
we  have  got  to  be  closeted  with  God.  We  find  Him  again 
at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and  He  prayed  before  He  called 
him  forth.  It  was  in  answer  to  prayer  that  Lazarus  was 
raised.  And  then  if  you  will  turn  into  the  17th  chapter  of 
John,  in   that  wonderful   prayer  of    Christ,  you  will  find 


348  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

seven  requests  there.  We  talk  about  the  disciples'  prayer 
as  the  Lord's  prayer  ;  really  the  Lord's  prayer  is  this  17th 
chapter  of  John.  That  was  His  last  prayer  that  has  been 
recorded,  except  the  one  on  the  cross,  and  in  this  17th 
chapter  of  John  there  are  seven  requests.  There  is  only 
one  for  Himself,  four  for  the  disciples  that  were  around 
'  Him,  and  two  for  you  and  I  and  for  all  that  should  believe 
on  Him  afterwards.  And  then  we  find  Him  saying  to 
Peter,  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee  that  thy  strength  fail  thee 
not."  When  Satan  was  to  sift  him  Christ  had  prayed  for 
him,  and  how  that  must  have  cheered  and  encouraged 
Peter  after  his  fall,  to  think  that  Christ  had  told  him  he 
was  going  to  pray  for  Him,  and  His  prayers  did  prevail 
and  Peter  was  brought  back.  And  then  the  last  breath 
on  the  cross,  just  before  He  cried  "  It  is  finished,"  and 
gave  up  the  ghost !  It  was  a  prayer,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  '  He  was  a  man  of 
prayer  ;  and  let  the  business  men  of  Boston  imitate  theii 
Master  ;  we  that  are  Christians  let  us  imitate  God  and  let 
us  lay  hold  on  God  in  prayer  to-day  that  He  may  give  us 
a  great  and  mighty  blessing.     Let  us  all  pray. 


CHRIST  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 


Previous  to  beginning  his  sermon,  Mr.  Moody  delivered 
^le  following  introductory  address  :  As  the  time  begins  to 
draw  near  for  us  to  leave  you,  one  feeling  comes  over  me 
more  and  more,  and  that  is,  I  would  like  to  get  all  these 
young  converts  in  love  with  their  Bible,  and  especially 
with  \\\Q.  person  of  Christ.  It  seems  to  me,  as  I  look  back, 
if  I  had  had  some  one  when  I  was  first  converted  to  teach 
me  more  about  Christ  and  about  His  person,  and  my  stand- 
ing with  Him,  that  it  would  have  saved  me  many  a  dark 
hour  and  many  a  fearful  conflict  that  I  had  with  myself 
during  the  first  eight  or  ten  years  of  my  Christian  experi- 
ence. Then  I  was  all  the  time  thinking  and  doubting 
about  the  Bible.  I  think,  perhaps,  there  is  no  city  in  this 
country  where  the  Bible  has  been  attacked  as  much  as  it 
has  in  Boston  ;  and  I  pity  those  young  converts  who  do 
not  get  in  love  with  their  Bible.  If  you  hear  these  skeptics 
and  scoffers  all  the  time  attacking  it,  before  you  know  it 
you  will  begin  to  believe  what  they  say  and  be  just  like 
them ;  but  if  you  do  love  your  Bible,  the  more  they  attack 
it,  the  more  they  scoff  at  it,  the  more  you  will  love  it ;  and 
if  I  could  be  instrumental  in  saying  something  that  would 
get  these  professors  of  religion,  especially  the  young  con- 
verts, in  love  with  God,  in  a  personal  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  know  Him  personally  as  their  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  as  their  Redeemer,  I  should  feel  that  this  work  would 
go  right  straight  on,  and  that  it  would  not  stop  during 
these  summer  months,  nor  next  year,  nor  five  years  hence ; 
but  if  we  should  come  back  he'-«  forty  years  from  now  we 

34q 


350  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

would  find  these  men  that  have  been  brought  out  at  the 
present  time  still  serving  the  Lord;  these  youjig  converts 
still  serving  the  Lord.  I  have  noticed  a  great  many  that 
have  been  brought  out  commence  right  off  to  study  their 
Bible  j  but  those  who  have  been  brought  out,  and  do  not 
stud;  their  Bible,  do  not  love  their  Bible,  I  have  noticed 
that  they  have  turned  back.  I  rejoice  to  see  so  man) 
bringing  their  Bibles,  and  yet  one  out  of  ten  don't  bring 
them,  or,  if  they  do,  don't  turn  to  them  when  the  sacred 
passages  are  read.  If  you  get  that  habit,  if  you  just  take 
your  Bible,  and  when  the  minister  preaches,  take  down 
notes,  that  will  encourage  the  preacher ;  it  will  stir  him 
up  to  greater  zeal  when  he  knows  that  his  hearers  are  in- 
terested in  what  he  says. 

This  morning  I  just  want  to  call  your  attention  to 
Christ  in  the  Old  Testament.  I  think  if  the  Lord  spares 
my  life  for  the  next  three  Sunday  mornings — the  third 
being  our  last  Sunday  morning  here — I  will  take  up  Christ. 
Since  we  have  been  here  the  last  ten  weeks  we  have 
preached  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  is  well  for  us  to 
know  what  He  is  ;  where  He  came  from  ;  and  what  He  came 
for.  Now  if  I  had  come  here  to  talk  or  lecture  about  Paris 
or  London,  you  would  expect  me  talk  about  them — to  tell 
you  all  about  them  that  I  could.  If  I  came  here  to  lecture 
on  Knox,  or  Bunyan,  or  Whitefield,  you  would  expect  me 
to  talk  about  them.  Now,  we  have  come  here  to  speak 
about  vhe  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  you  naturally  want  to 
know  who  He  was,  and  what  He  came  for.  He  came  to 
declare  His  Father  and  reveal  Him  to  the  world.  Let  me 
call  your  attention  to  the  2d  epistle  of  Peter — the  last 
words  that  he  wrote — the  ist  chapter  and  14th  verse  : 

"  Knowing  that  shortly  I  must  put  off  this  my  tabernacle, 
even  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  shewed  me. 

"  Moreover,  I  will  endeavor  that  ye  may  be  able  after 
my  decease  to  have  these  things  always  in  remembrance. 


CHRIST  IN  THE  OLD    TESTAMENT  3-1 

"  For  we  have  not  followed  cunningly  devised  fables, 
when  we  made  known  unto  you  the  power  and  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  were  eye-witnesses  of  his  maj- 
esty. 

"  For  he  received  from  God  the  Father  honour  and  glory, 
when  there  came  such  a  voice  to  him  from  the  excellent 
glory,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased. 

"  And  this  voice  which  came  from  heaven  we  heard,  when 
we  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount. 

"  We  have  also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy  ;  where- 
unto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that 
shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day 
star  arise  in  your  hearts : 

"  Knowing  this  first,  that  no  prophecy  of  the  scripture  is 
of  any  private  interpretation. 

"  For  the  prophecy  came  not  in  the  old  time  by  the  will 
of  man  :  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this : 
That  when  we  take  up  this  Bible  let  us  bear  in  mind  that 
it  is  true.  Nevertheless,  hundreds  of  men  tell  us  it  is  not. 
Let  us  just  bear  in  mind  that  the  Word  of  God  is  true,  and 
that  we  can  rely  upon  it.  It  has  been  written  by  different 
men  covering  over  the  space  of  1500  years  ;  but  you  will 
find  the  same  doctrine  taught  in  Genesis  that  you  will  in 
Revelation.  You  will  find  the  same  spirit  in  Exodus  that 
you  will  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  It  is  not  two  dif- 
ferent books.  It  is  one  book  written  by  one  hand — by 
holy  men,  who  speak  as  if  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Nature  has  been  the  same  all  these  ages,  and  sin 
has  been  the  same  all  these  years.  Man  by  nature  has 
been  the  same  all  these  years — been  corrupt  by  nature. 
Grace  has  been  the  same  ;  God  has  been  the  same  God  of 
Love  all  these  6000  years.  So  when  we  take  up  this  work, 
although  it  has  been  written  by  different  classes  of  men  j 
men  high  and  low,  for  although  Moses  had  all  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Egyptians,  yet  God  took  him  off  forty  years, 
and  put  him  in  the  desert  in  Horeb.  He  wrote  the  first  five 


^^2  .  TO  ALL  PEOPl,E. 

Books  of  the  Bible ;  yet  we  find  that  Amos  wrote  also,  and 
he  was  taken  from  a  sheep-fold.  We  find  that  Peter  wrote 
as  sweetly  as  any  one,  yet  he  was  a  simple  fisherman,  and 
so  with  John,  Paul  and  the  rest  of  them.  There  was  no 
conflict  between  them  and  Moses,  although  hundreds  of 
years  intervened  between  the  period  of  their  writings. 
There  is  no  difference.  They  wrote  this  Book.  And  when 
we  take  it  up  let  us  bear  in  mind  it  is  true. 

You  will  find,  if  you  take  up  the  Old  Testament,  that 
every  word  concerning  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
literally  fulfilled.  I  once  read  of  two  Jewish  Rabbis  that 
were  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  after  it  had  been  laid  waste, 
and  they  saw  a  fox  there  upon  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  ;  one 
Rabbi  burst  into  tears,  and  the  other  burst  out  laughing. 
One  rebuked  the  other,  saying,  "  How  can  you  laugh  when 
you  see  Jerusalem  given  over  to  the  Gentiles  ?  He  predicted 
this,  and  His  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled,  and  now  I  know 
that  God's  word  is  true.  It  makes  me  believe  the  word  of 
God."  And  if  you  take  notice  how  God  has  dealt  with  that 
nation,  you  will  find  that  everything  He  said  about  this  na- 
tion has  been  fulfilled  literally.  Every  promise  that  He 
made  to  Abraham  has  been  literally  fulfilled,  just  as  God 
said  it  should  be.  He  said  His  seed  should  be  as  the 
sands  of  the  sea-shore  and  stars  of  the  heaven,  and  His 
prophecy  has  been  fulfilled.  I  was  reading  some  time 'ago 
in  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah — and  I  have  spent  six  months 
in  studying  that  book — and  I  came  across  one  verse  that 
struck  me.  When  God  made  the  promise  to  David  that  he 
should  never  want  a  man  to  sit  upon  his  throne,  I  said,  "  Is 
that  true  ?  Hasn't  that  promise  been  broken  t "  And  I 
began  to  read  up  to  see  whether  it  was  ever  broken,  and  I 
found  that  200  years  after  He  had  promised  that,  the 
usurper  took  the  throne  and  swayed  over  Israel.  Ah  !  but 
when  I  came  to  study  the  Bible  I  found  God  took  care  of 
His  promise.     There  was  an  old  prophet,  when  they  were 


CHRIST  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT. 


353 


slaying  the  royal  family,  who  took  a  little  child  belonging 
to  the  royal  family  and  hid  him  in  the  temple,  ana  he 
reigned  thereafter,  and  the  skeptics  say  now,  "  Where  is  He 
who  is  to  sit  upon  David's  throne  ?  God  said  he  never 
should  want  a  man  to  sit  on  his  throne."  I  will  tell  you 
wdiere  He  is.  He  is  away  up  there  in  the  temple,  and  He 
will  come  back  by  and  by.  The  usurper  has  got  the  throne 
now  ;  but  He  will  come  back  by  and  by  and  possess  it.  It 
doesn't  mean  a  man,  but  in  the  fulness  of  the  time  Christ 
will  take  the  throne  of  David  and  rule  here.  Another 
prophecy  was,  I  shall  not  read  it — I  think  it  is  in  tnc 
29th  chapter  of  Ezekiel — that  Egypt  shall  never  lift  up  its 
head  over  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Here  a  few  years  ago 
Egypt  was  at  war  with  Turkey,  and  it  looked  as  if  Egypt 
was  going  to  prevail  ;  but  Russia,  England  and  Austria  in- 
terfered, and  Egypt  never  got  it's  head  up.  There  it  is,  an 
abased  nation — it  can't  lift  it's  head  up  ;  and  that  is  just 
what  God  said.  So  you  will  find  all  through  the  Scripture 
that  all  that  God  has  said  has  been  fulfilled.  There  are 
about  200  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  referring  to 
Jesus  Christ,  and  every  one  of  them  has  been  literally  ful- 
filled. 

"And  Abraham  called  the  name  of  that  place Jehovah- 
jired  ;  as  it  is  said  to  this  day,  in  the  mount  of  the  Lord  it 
shall  be  seen. 

"And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  Abraham  out  of 
heaven  the  second  time, 

"And  said,  By  myself  have  I  sw^orn,  saith  the  Lord,  for 
because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not  withheld 
thy  son,  thine  only  son  : 

"That  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiplying  I 
will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven,  and  as 
the  sand  which  is  upon  the  sea-shore  ;  and  thy  seed  shall 
possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies  ; 

"  And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed  ;  because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice." 

Now,  here  is  a  man  standing  on  a  mountain  alone  with 
23 


354  ^^  ^^^^  PEOPLE. 

just  one  son — an  old  man  hard  on  to  125  years  of  a^e — 
and  now  God  makes  him  a  promise  :  "  Thy  seed  shall  be 
like  the  sands  upon  the  sea  shore,  like  the  stars  of  the  nea- 
ven  ;  and  thy  seed  shall  possess  the  fate  of  his  enemies  ; 
and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 
Now,  let  me  ask  you,  hasn't  that  prophecy  been  fulfilled  ? 
Hasn't  God  made  that  a  great  and  mighty  nation  ?  Where 
is  there  any  nation  that  has  ever  produced  such  men  as 
have  come  from  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  There  is  no  nation 
that  has  or  can  produce  such  men.  Just  look  at  Joseph 
down  there  in  the  court  of  Egypt.  Look  at  Daniel  going 
down  into  Babylon  and  swaying  his  sceptre  over  the  whole 
world,  taking  almost  the  place  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Look 
at  Esther  in  the  court  at  Shushan,  where  God  placed  her, 
and  you  will  find  when  God  exalted  them,  that  He  not  only 
put  a  mark  upon  the  seed  of  Abraham,  but  that  it  was  im- 
pressed upon  them  so  deep  that  they  haven't  been  able  to 
erase  it.  That  promise  was  made  nearly  4000  years  ago, 
and  even  now  you  can  see  that  the  Jews  are  a  separate 
and  distinct  nation,  in  their  language,  in  their  habits  and 
in  every  respect.  You  can  bring  almost  every  nation  here 
and  in  fifty  years  they  will  become  extinct,  merged  into 
another  ;  but  bring  a  Jew  here,  and  in  fifty  years,  a  hun- 
dred years,  or  a  thousand  years,  he  is  still  a  Jew.  When  I 
meet  a  Jew  I  can't  help  thinking  of  the  promise  that  God 
made  to  Abraham.  I  can't  help  having  a  profound  respect 
for  them,  for  they  are  God's  people.  I  have  an  idea  that 
they  are  a  nation  that  are  to  be  born  in  a  day,  and  when 
tliey  are  converted  and  brought  back  to  Christ,  what  a 
mighty  power  they  will  be  in  the  land,  what  missionaries 
to  carry  the  glad  tidings  arotmd  this  world.  They  are  dis- 
tinct and  separate.  When  they  take  the  census  of  a  coun- 
try the  Jews  are  all  kept  separate.  They  are  not  reckoned 
in  among  the  other  classes.  They  are  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate over  all  the  world.     Put  them  away  off  in  China  and 


CHRIST  IN  THE   OND   TESTAMENT.  355 

leave  them  there,  after  a  thousand  years  they  would  be 
Jews  still.  They  have  the  mark  upon  them.  You  can  tell 
a  Jew  almost  a  mile  off.  See  how  God  has  blessed  that 
nation.  Our  Lord  and  Saviour  was  a  Jew  Himself.  He 
came  from  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  all  nations  through 
Him,  the  seed  of  Abraham,  shall  be  blessed.  Let  me  call 
your  attention  to  a  verse  you  will  find  in  the  49th  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  loth  verse  : 

"  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law- 
giver from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come ;  and  unto 
him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be." 

Now  let  me  ask  you  what  name  under  heaven  is  there 
that  will  draw  the  gathering  of  the  people  like  J  esus  ?  That 
was  1700  years  before  Christ  was  born,  and  what  would 
have  brought  out  this  large  audience,  of  all  shades  of  be- 
lief, and  of  all  nationalities — what  has  brought  you  here  ? 
It  is  not  eloquence,  for  there  is  no  eloquence  here.  It  is 
not  excitement,  for  there  is  no  excitement  here.  What  has 
brought  them  and  you  here  but  the  name  of  Jesus  ? 

"The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law 
giver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come  ;  and  unto 
him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be." 

And  when  He  comes  He  will  gather  the  people  to- 
gether. For  1800  years  they  have  been  gathering  around 
Him,  and  yet  there  will  be  millions  and  millions  gathering 
around  the  Cross,  singing  the  sweet  songs  of  Zion.  There 
is  a  prophecy  given  1700  years  before  Christ  came.  Now, 
His  history  doesn't  begin  back  at  Bethlehem,  as  you  may 
think.  If  you  want  to  get  at  His  nativity  you  don't  want 
to  go  to  Nazareth,  He  came  from  the  bosom  of  His  Father 
before  the  morning  stars  sang  together.  Look  and  see 
what  Balaam  said  of  Him — God  speaking  through  him, 
though  he  hadn't  been  all  right  with  God — 

"  I  shall  see  Him,  but  not  now  :  I  shall  behold  Him, 
but  not  nigh :  there  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a 


2r6  ■  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Sceptre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners 
of  Moab,  and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth 

He  has  said  it,  and  the  star  has  risen  and  He  shall  be 
called  a  bright  and  morning  star,  as  it  says  in  Revelation, 
"  I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David  and  the  bright  and 
morning  star."  That  star  1  as  risen,  and  how  it  is  lighting 
up  this  dark  world.  Then,  if  you  turn  into  Psalms  (I  wish 
I  had  time  to  read  all  about  it,  but  if  you  have  got  your 
pencil  and  paper  you  may  take  that  down,  so  that  you  may 
read  it  very  minutely)  you  will  find  that  everything  con- 
cerning the  sufferings  of  Christ  has  all  been  foretold,  and 
then  you  turn  over  into  the  New  Testament  and  you  will 
find  that  He  said  that  these  things  need  be  in  order,  that 
the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled.  So  the  word  was  all  ful- 
filled, just  as  it  had  been  prophesied  by  the  holy  men. 

"  All  they  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn  ;  they  shoot 
out  the  lip,  they  shake  the  head,  saying 

''  He  trusted  in  the  Lord  that  he  would  deliver  him  ;  let 
him  deliver  him,  seeing  he  delighted  in  him. 

"  But  thou  art  he  that  took  me  out  of  the  womb  ;  thou 
didst  make  me  hope  when  I  was  upon  my  mother's 
breasts. 

"  I  was  cast  upon  thee  from  the  womb  ;  thou  art  my  God 
from  my  mother's  belly. 

"  Be  not  far  from  me  ;  for  trouble  is  near  ;  for  there  is 
none  to  help. 

"  Many  bulls  have  compassed  me  :  strong  bulls  of  Ba- 
shan  have  beset  me  round. 

"  They  gaped  upon  me  with  their  mouths,  as  a  ravening 
and  a  roaring  lion. 

"  I  am  poured  out  like  water,  and  all  my  bones  are  out 
of  joint;  my  heart  is  like  wax,  it  is  melted  in  the  midst  of 
my  bowels. 

"  My  strength  is  dried  up  like  a  potsherd ;  and  my 
tongue  cleaveth  to  my  jaws  ;  and  thou  hast  brought  me 
into  the  dust  of  death. 

"  For  dogs  have  compassed  me  :  the  assembly  of  the 
wicked  have  enclosed  me :  they  pierced  my  hands  and  my 
Ceet. 


CHRIST  IN  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT.  31^7 

"  I  may  tell  all  my  bones  :  they  look  and  stare  uiion  me. 
"  They  part   my  garments   among  them,  and  cast  lots 
upon  my  vesture." 

Then,  in  the  69th  Psalm,  it  says  : 

*'  They  gave  me  also  gall  for  my  meat ;  and  in  my  thirst 
they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drinic." 

And  when  He  cried  on  the  cross,  "  I  thirst,"  they  re- 
fused Him  a  draught  of  water  from  one  of  His  own  springs 
— they  gave  Him  gall  mixed  with  vinegar,  as  had  been 
prophesied.  Then,  take  up  the  Prophecy  of  Isaiah  ;  I 
haven't  time  to  read  all  I  wish  to  ;  but  my  object  is  to  cal^ 
your  attention  to  this  one  thought :  that  everything  that 
was  said  in  these  200  prophecies  in  regard  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  been  literally  fulfilled,  as  it  was  prophesied 
thousands  of  years  and  hundreds  of  years  before  they 
came. 

It  says  here  in  Isaiah  vii.  14  that  He  shall  be  brought 
forth  of  a  virgin. 

"  Therefore  the  Lord  himself  shall  give  you  a  sign  ; 
behold,  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall 
call  his  name  Immanuel." 

God  with  us.  Seven  hundred  years  before  He  came 
Isaiah  made  this  prophecy.  He  looked  down  the  stream 
of  time  and  God  showed  him  His  Son — how  He  was  going 
to  be  born  of  a  virgin  and  was  to  be  called  "  Immanuel — 
God  with  us."  It  seems  to  me  that  ought  to  settle  the 
divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — "God  with  us."  Then 
again,  in  the  9th  chapter  6th  verse,  it  says  : 

"  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given ; 
and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder,  and  his 
name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty 
God,  The  Everlasting  Father,  The  Prince  of  Peace. 

Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there  shall 
be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  upon  his  king- 
dom, to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it  with  judgment  and 
with  justice  from  henceforth  even  forever.  The  zeal  of 
the  Lord  of  hosts  will  perform  this." 


358  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

His  government  has  no  end.  You  know,  a  great  many 
reformers  die,  and  their  reforms  die  out  with  them  ;  but 
this  Reformer  will  live  forever  to  carry  out  His  reformation. 
Those  infidels  and  skeptics  that  write  down  Christ,  die, 
and  others  come  up  and  die ;  but  Christ  forever  lives,  and 
His  govei  nment  is  growing  dail}'',  and  will  keep  on  growing 
and  growing  until  it  fills  the  whole  earth. 

"  Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there 
shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David  and  upon  his 
kingdom,  to  order  it  and  to  establish  it  with  judgment  and 
with  justice  from  henceforth  even  forever.  The  zeal  of 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  will  perform  this." 

"  The  Lord  sent  a  word  unto  Jacob,  and  it  hath  lighted 
upon  Israel."  The  Lord  sent  a  word  into  Israel  and  it 
has  lighted  up  Israel.  Then,  turn  to  the  40th  chapter  of 
Isaiah,  and  3d  verse,  you  will  find  that  John  the  Baptist 
was  to  precede  Him. 

"  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness.  Pre- 
pare ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the  desert  a 
iiighway  for  our  God." 

And  so  in  the  fulness  of  time  his  voice  was  heard  in 
the  wilderness,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
his  paths  straight,"  and  he  stirred  up  the  whole  nation. 
They  were  looking  for  him  because  the  prophet  Isaiah 
had  prophesied  that,  He  had  told  them  they  should  hear 
his  voice  in  the  wilderness  saying,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord."  Then  in  the  40th  chapter  3d  verse,  it  says  He 
was  to  be  a  man  of  compassion. 

"  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  the  smoking 
flax  shall  he  not  quench  ;  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment 
unto  truth." 

He  was  to  be  a  man  of  compassion.  That  tells  what 
kind  of  a  minister  He  should  be.  Then,  in  the  5 2d  chapter 
and  14th  ver.'e  it  says, 

"  His  visage  was  so  marred  more  than  any  man,  and  his 
form  more  than  the  sons  of  men." 


CHRIST  IN  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT. 


359 


In  the  53d  chapter  His  birth  is  spoken  of  ;  Kis  suf- 
ferings ;  how  He  should  bear  the  sins  of  many  ;  that  He 
should  be  poor  in  His  death,  and  yet  make  His  grave  with 
the  rich.  And  God  fulfilled  that  prophecy  and  put  it  in 
the  heart  of  that  rich  man,  Joseph  of  Arimathca,  to  go  and 
beg  His  body  of  Pilate  and  put  it  in  his  sepulchre,  that 
His  prophecy  might  be  fulfilled.  So  when  John  was  cast 
into  prison,  I  don't  know  but  perhaps  his  faith  '.  egan  to 
waver,  and  he  might  have  said  it  was  a  very  singular  thing 
that  he  should  be  cast  into  prison  when  He  was  His  Mes- 
siah, and  so  he  sent  two  messengers  to  the  Lord  Jesus, 
v.'ho  came  to  Him  when  He  was  healing  the  sick  and 
casting  out  devils,  and  the  Messiah  told  them.  "  Go  and 
tell  John  what  you  have  heard  and  seen,"  and  I  can  just 
imagine  John  thanked  God.  He  left  all  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  You  know  when  the  wise  men  got  into  Jerusalem, 
they  wanted  to  know  where  he  that  was  born  King  of  the 
Jews  was,  for  they  had  seen  the  Star  in  the  East  and  had 
come  to  worship  Him  ;  and  Herod  was  filled  with  trouble 
and  all  Jerusalem  with  him,  because  the  prophets  had  pro- 
phesied it  and  Israel  had  been  looking  for  Him  for  4000 
years,  and  now  instead  of  bells  pealing  joyfully  forth  their 
anthems^  and  shouts  of  triumph  arising  at  His  coming,  we 
find  these  in  trouble.  Herod  takes  them  into  his  counsel 
to  lind  out  when  this  Messiah  was  coming,  and  they  go 
and  hunt  up  the  prophecies  and  find  out  that  they  said  He 
was  to  be  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea.  Now,  bear  in 
mind,  they  found  it  in  the  words  of  the  old  Testament  that 
there  should  come  a  law-giver  and  a  judge  over  Israel,  and 
though  the  virgin  was  seventy  miles  off  from  Bethlehem 
just  before  our  Saviour's  birth,  yet  we  find  that  she  was 
brought  clear  to  Bethlehem  in  order  that  the  prophecy 
that  Christ  should  be  born  in  Bethlehem  might  be  fulfilled. 
It  was  prophesied  that  Christ  should  enter  Jerusalem  sit- 
ting on  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass.    He  walked  to  Jerusalem 


360  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

a  good  many  times.  He  walked  every  time  but  once,  and 
then  He  had  to  ride  in  order  that  the  prophecy  of  the 
Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled.  So  were  the  prophecies  that 
He  should  be  met  with  rejoicing  on  His  entry  into  Jerusa- 
.em  with  shouts  of  "  Hosanna,  Hosanna,  the  Son  of  David," 
and  that  He  should  be  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  ful- 
filled. And  there  was  another  prophecy  that  that  money 
should  go  for  a  potter's  field.  Judas  hadn't  had  it  a  great 
while  before  he  threw  it  down  and  says  :  "  It  is  the  price 
of  innocent  blood."  And  they  took  it  and  bought  in  a 
potter's  field  with  it.  Isaiah  says  He  died  not  for  His 
own  sins,  but  for  our  transgressions.  Now,  it  seems  to  me 
if  this  is  true,  and  all  these  words  in  the  Bible  are  true,  I 
don't  see  how  you  can  doubt  it.  God  gave  the  antedilu- 
vians warning.  They  scoffed  at  His  warning,  and  He  cut 
them  off.     And  when  Christ  wailed  over  Jerusalem. 

"  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  thatkillest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together  even  as  a  hen 
gathered  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not!" 

they  mocked  Him,  laughed  at  it,  crying  "  Crucify  Him, 
crucify  Him,  away  with  Him,"  and  put  Him  to  death. 
This  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  Don't  let  us  go  off,  then, 
with  the  thought  that  the  word  of  God  is  not  true.  Let  us 
keep  in  mind  it  is  true.  He  says  heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  not  one  jot  or  tittle  shall  pass  from  the  law 
lill  all  be  fulfilled.  O,  that  Boston  may  be  brought  back 
to  its  Bible  and  that  this  city  may  come  to  know  and  love 
the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  may  we  not 
set  up  our  own  law,  but  follow  in  the  law  of  our  Saviour. 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


You  that  were  here  last  Sunday  morning  remember  I 
was  speaking  aboat  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  how 
the  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  was  fulfilled  in  His  birth. 
This  morning  I  want  to  just  take  up  the  subject  where  I 
left  off,  and  show  that  everything  about  Christ  was  won- 
derful. All  these  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  con- 
cerning Christ  were  wonderful.  Everything  about  His 
birth,  about  His  life  and  about  His  death  was  wonderful. 
We  find  a  great  many  people  now  who  tell  us  that  they 
don't  see  anything  wonderful  in  Christ;  that  he  was  like 
ordinary  men  —  like  other  men,  and  a  great  many  say  they 
see  no  reason  why  they  should  believe  in  Him  as  being 
more  than  human  ;  they  can't  see  anything  about  Him 
more  than  about  an  ordinary  man.  Now,  I  want  to  call 
your  attention  to  what  Gabriel  said  about  Him.  Gabriel's^\ 
name  appears  three  times  in  the  Scriptures,  and  every  time  ' 
that  he  comes  to  earth  he  comes  to  bring  some  tidings 
about  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  first  came  to  Babylon, 
when  Daniel  was  praying,  to  tell  him  that  he  was  not  only  / 
greatly  beloved  ;  but  he  also  came  to  give  him  the  secret 
that  was  in  heaven — that  the  Messiah  should  come,  and 
that  He  should  be  cut  off  for  the  transgressions  of  God's 
people.  Now  400  years  had  rolled  away  since  the  last 
prophet's  voice  had  been  heard  in  the  land.  For  a  great 
many  years — for  400  years — before  Christ  came  the  last 
prophecy   was  given.       An    old    priest   by   the    name    of 

Zacharias  was  burning  incense  in  the  temple  in  his  regular 

361 


362  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

course.  We  are  told  that  he  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  were 
good  people,  that  they  were  righteous,  but  they  had  a 
crook  in  their  path  like  a  great  many  now — they  had  no 
children. .  And  it  was  considered  in  those  days  a  great 
dishonor  not  to  have  children.  We  are  told  that  they  had 
been  praying  that  they  might  have  children,  and  God 
promised  to  bless  them  ;  but  I  suppose  they  had  grown 
faint-hearted  and  given  up  all  hope.  Perhaps  they  had 
forgotten  how  God  answered  the  prayers  of  Abraham  and 
Sarah  and  gave  them  a  child  in  their  old  age  ;  and  how 
Hannah  had  a  child  in  her  old  age  ;  and  also  how  Sam- 
son's father  and  mother  had  been  honored  by  a  child  in 
their  old  age.  And  now  we  find  that  this  priest  was  not 
in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  but  in  the  place  where  they  burnt 
incense,  just  outside  of  the  curtain  that  was  rent  when 
Christ  died.  There  was  an  altar  there,  and  he  went  in 
twice  a  day  to  burn  incense  to  God ;  and  while  he  was  so 
engaged  the  people  were  in  the  outer  court  waiting  for 
him  to  come  out  and  bless  them.  When  he  came  out  I 
suppose  he  blessed  them  as  we  do  here  in  pronouncing 
the  benediction,  only  in  those  days  they  waited  for  the 
benediction  in  the  outer  court.  But  the  old  priest  didn't 
come  out.  He  tarried  in  there  longer  than  usual.  And 
while  he  was  there  at  the  altar  who  should  meet  him  but 
this  same  man,  Gabriel,  and  Zacharias  was  filled  with  fear 
when  he  saw  him ;  but  Gabriel  told  him  to  fear  not,  that 
he  had  brought  him  good  news,  that  his  prayer  was 
answered.  Let  me  just  read  what  Gabriel  said  to  the  old 
priest. 

"  And  there  appeared  unto  him  an  angel  of  the  Lord, 
standing  on  the  right  side  of  the  altar  of  incense. 

"  And  when  Zacharias  saw  him,  he  was  troubled,  and 
fear  fell  upon  him. 

"  But  the  angel  said  unto  him,  Fear  not,  Zacharias  : 
for  thy  prayer  is  heard  ;  and  thy  wife  Elizabeth  shall  bear 
thee  a  son,  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  John. 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  363 

"  And  thou  shalt  have  joy  and  gladness  ;  and  many 
shall  rejoice  at  his  birth. 

"  For  he  shall  be  great  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and 
shall  drink  neither  wine  nor  strong  drink  ;  and  he  shall  be 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  even  from  his  mother's  womb. 

"  And  many  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  he  turn  to 
the  Lord  their  God. 

"  And  he  shall  go  before  him  in  the  spirit  and  power 
of  Elias,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children, 
and  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just ;  to  make 
ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord. 

He  was  not  only  to  have  a  child,  but  his  child  was  to 
become  great  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  he  was  not  only  to 
become  great,  but  he  was  to  be  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  from 
his  mother's  womb,  and  he  should  turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness. How  exalted,  how  blessed  this  old  priest  was  !  But 
Zacharias  was  like  a  good  many  men  now.  Instead  of  re- 
membering how  God  had  answered  the  prayers  of  Abraham 
and  Sarah,  he  begins  to  doubt  this  promise.  He  couldn't 
believe  it.  "  How  can  this  be  t  "  he  says.  "  How  am  I 
going  to  have  a  child,  now  I  am  so  old  1 " 

"  And  Zacharias  said  unto  the  angel.  Whereby  shall  I 
know  this?  for  I  am  an  old  man,  and  my  wife  well  stricken 
in  years. 

"  And  the  angel  answering  said  unto  him,  I  am  Gabriel, 
that  stand  in  the  presence  of  God  ; " 

"I  am  Gabriel,  that  stand  in  the  presence  of  God." 
I  suppose  Gabriel  had  never  doubted  it.  And  where  is 
there  an  angel  who  ever  told  a  lie  ?  All  the  prophecies 
that  have  appeared  in  the  Word  have  been  literally 
fulfilled.  Now  Zacharias  was  perhaps  amazed  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life.  The  angel  had  come  from  a  world 
where  unbelief  is  a  stranger,  where  doubt  is  unknown  and 
where  everyone  believes  everything  that  God  has  said.  Now 
he  finds  this  old  priest,  who  ought  to  have  known  better 
than  to  have  doubted  the  Word  of  God.  Now,  he  wanted 
a  token — he  wanted  a  token. 


364  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"  And  Zacharias  said  unto  the  angel,  Whireby  shdll  I 
know  this  ?  for  I  am  an  old  man,  and  my  wife  well  stricken 
in  years." 

And,  as  some  one  says,  that  is  the  trouble  now  in  the 
churches  ;  a  great  many  Christians  want  a  token  outside 
of  what  God  has  said.  Why,  if  God  has  said  He  will  do  a 
thing  shall  we  turn  round  and  insult  Him  by  doubting  and 
asking  for  a  token  ?  God  said,  "  You  shall  have  a  token.  You 
shall  be  dumb  for  the  next  nine  months."  He  got  token 
enough!  He  was  made  dumb  for  the  next  nine  months. 
And  that's  the  reason  we  have  got  so  many  dumb  Christians 
now.  They  can't  believe  that  what  God  says  is  true.  They 
are  looking  for  tokens.  Now  we  find  that  he  came  out,  and 
the  people  noticed  what  a  change  there  was.  The  old  priest 
had  the  tidings,  and  he  was  so  happy  that  his  face  was 
shining.  He  couldn't  have  given  the  benediction  then  if 
he  had  tried  to  for  he  couldn't  speak.  There  was  no 
small  stir  in  Jerusalem  when  they  found  he  could  not 
speak  ;  when  they  found  what  had  happened,  that  he  had 
seen  Gabriel,  who  had  told  him  that  he  was  to  be  the 
father  of  that  child  who  was  to  be  the  forerunner  of  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to 
retire  from  his  office,  he  took  his  wife  and  went  into  the 
hilly  country  of  Judea,  where  he  remained  until  the  child 
was  born.  But  six  months  from  that  time  Gabriel  made 
his  third  visit,  and  he  brought  better  news  than  ever.  It 
was  good  news  when  he  told  Daniel,  in  Babylon,  that  a 
Messiah  should  come  and  be  cut  off  for  the  transgression 
of  His  people.  It  was  still  better  news  that  John,  the 
forerunner  of  the  coming  Messiah,  was  to  come,  and  that 
at  the  end  of  nine  months  she,  Elizabeth,  should  bring 
him  into  the  world.  Now  he  comes  up  into  Nazareth  and 
tells  Mary  that  she  was  to  be  the  mother  of  that  child,  that 
Israel  had  been  looking  for  for  3000  years.  A  great  many 
mothers  in  Israel  had  been  praying  that  they  might  be  the 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  365 

mother  ot  that  child.  But  here  was  a  young  country  vir- 
gin, poor  and  humble,  that  was  to  be  the  mother  of  that 
child.     Let  u?  read  what  Gabriel  said  to  her  : 

"  And  in  the  sixth  month  the  angel  Gabriel  was  sent 
frDm  God  unto  a  city  of  Galilee,  named  Nazareth, 

•  To  a  virgin  espoused  to  a  man  whose  name  was 
Joseph,  of  the  house  of  David  ;  and  the  virgin's  name  was 
Mary. 

"  And  the  angel  came  in  unto  her,  and  said,  Hail,  thou 
that  art  highly  favored,  the  Lord  is  with  thee  :  blessed  art 
thou  among  women. 

"  And  when  she  saw  him^  she  was  troubled  at  his  say- 
ing, and  cast  in  her  mind  what  manner  of  salutation  this 
should  be. 

"  And  the  angel  said  unto  her,  Fear  not,  Mary  :  for  thou 
hast  found  favor  with  God. 

"And,  behold,  thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and 
bring  forth  a  son,  and  shalt  call  his  name  JESUS. 

"  He  shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the 
Highest.     *     * 

That  is  what  Gabriel  said  about  Him.  "  He  shall  be 
called  the  Son  of  the  Highest.'' 

*  *  *  "  And  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him  the 
throne  of  his  father,  David. 

"And  he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever  ; 
and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end." 

Now,  that  has  been  fulfilled.  Eighteen  hundred  years 
have  rolled  away,  and  He  has  got  the  kingdom  of  this 
world.  And  there  are  millions  and  millions  who  would 
lay  down  their  lives  for  this  kingdom  for  Christ's  sake. 
There  are  many  loyal  sons  in  this  world  to-day,  who  are 
loyal  to  the  King  of  Heaven. 

"  Then  said  Mary  unto  the  angel.  How  shall  this  be, 
seeing  I  know  not  a  man  ? 

"  And  the  angel  answered  and  said  unto  her,  I'he 
Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee :  therefore  also  that  holy 
thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son 
of  God. 

"  And,  behold,  thy  cousin  Elisabeth,  she  hath  also  con- 


366  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

ceived  a  son  in  her  old  age :  and  this  is   the  sixth  month 
with  her,  who  was  called  barren. 

"  For  with  God  nothing  shall  be  impossible." 

Now,  bear  in  mind  what  Gabriel  said  to  Mary  about 
this  child.  He  shall  not  only  be  great.  This  is  what  he 
says :  His  name  shall  be  great,  and  He  shall  be  called 
Jesus.  He  has  256  names  that  you  can  find  in  the  Bible, 
but  yet  He  still  bears  that  name — Jesus.  We  like  it  bet- 
ter than  any  other.  It  was  the  name  that  came  from 
Heaven,  the  sweetest  name  that  mortal  ever  had  ;  the  name 
that  Gabriel  gave  him.  It  came  direct  from  God.  And 
when  Saul  met  Him  He  said,  "  I  am  Jesus."  There  was 
not  a  name  that  could  fire  up  the  people  like  the  name  of 
Jesus.  When  Joshua  delivered  the  children  of  Israel  they 
rejoiced.  He  was  their  Saviour.  And  now  how  they 
hail  the  name  of  Jesus  with  joy  and  gladness.  They  had 
got  another  Joshua — had  got  another  deliverer  to  set  the 
captives  free.  Mary  started  at  once,  left  her  home  at 
Nazareth,  and  went  into  the  country  where  her  cousin 
Elizabeth  was,  and  the  moment  they  met  that  child  leaped 
in  her  womb.  Everything  about  Christ  is  wonderful.  He 
was  unlike  other  men.  In  the  Scripture  it  is  said  that  He 
shall  grow  mighty.  Everything  about  Christ  is  wonderful. 
Now,  we  find  that  Elizabeth  breaks  out  into  praise,  and  so 
does  Mary.  I  should  judge,  as  nigh  as  I  can  find  out, 
that  just  before  John  was  born  Mary  returns  to  her  own 
country,  and  right  here  it  seems  singular  to  me  that 
this  last  prophet  that  was  to  be  given  to  the  nation  under 
the  old  dispensation  should  be  born  of  an  old  woman,  and 
while  the  old  dispensation  was  fading  out,  that  Jesus  should 
be  born  under  the  new  dispensation  and  be  begotten  of  a 
young  virgin.  In  the  fulness  of  time  John  was  born.  They 
all  came  there  in  great  joy  that  Elizabeth  had  become  the 
mother  of  this  child.  There  had  been  a  good  deal  said 
about  it.     Of  course,   the  whole  country  was  turned  up 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  '^6'] 

anxious  to  know  all  about  his  birth.  They  gather  there, 
and  on  the  eighth  day  they  gather  around  the  child  and 
call  him  Zacharias.  That  is  what  the  relatives  and  neigh- 
bors who  came  in  after  his  birth  wanted  to  call  him.  They 
wanted  to  call  him  Zacharias  after  his  father.  "  No,"  says 
his  mother.  "  I  want  him  called  John.  Name  him  John." 
They  couldn't  get  her  to  consent  to  have  him  called  Zach- 
arias, and  they  said,  "We  will  ask  the  old  prophet."  But 
they  couldn't  get  him  to  speak  a  word.  So  he  just  called 
for  a  writing  table,  a  slate,  and  a  pencil, and  he  wrote  on  it, 
"'He  shall  be  called  John."  That  name  came  from  Heaven. 
They  couldn't  change  it,  because  the  angel  had  brought 
that  name ;  God  had  sent  the  name.  He  sent  Gabriel  to 
name  the  child.  Let  me  say  all  this  wasn't  done  in  a  cor- 
ner.    It  says  in  the  65th  verse  of  the  ist  chapter  : 

"  And  fear  came  on  all  that  dwelt  round  about  them  • 
and  all  these  sayings  were  noised  abroad  throughout  all  the 
hill  country  of  Judea." 

It  was  noised  abroad.  Everybody  was  talking  about 
it. 

"  And  all  they  that  heard  them  laid  them  up  in  their 
hearts,  saying.  What  manner  of  child  shall  this  be!  And 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  him." 

John  means  "  the  grace  of  God,"  and  the  grace  of 
God  was  given  this  child.  About  three  months  from  this 
time  there  was  another  stir  about  Bethlehem.  The  town 
was  full.  That  wasn't  done  in  a  corner.  It  wasn't  known 
by  only  a  few  shepherds  as  some  people  have  the  impres- 
sion. No,  there  was  a  great  stir  in  Bethlehem.  Let  us 
read  in  the  2d  chapter  of  Luke,  the  17th  verse  : 

"  And  when  they  had  seen  it,  they  made  known  abroad 
the  saying  which  was  told  them  concerning  this  child." 

What  saying  ?  Why,  that  an  angel  had  come  to  them 
on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  and  told  them  where  this  child 
should  be  born  ;  that   a  Sav'our  had  been  given   to  the 


368  ^^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

world,  and  now  they  come  into  Bethlehem   and  find  it  is 
so,  and  then  begin  to  noise  it  abroad. 

"  And  all  they  that  heard  it  wondered  at  those  things 
which  were  told  them  by  the  shepherds. 

"  But  Mary  kept  all  these  things,  and  pondered  them  in 
her  heart." 

Now,  you  will  find  that  they  made  haste  to  find  the 
child,  and  when  they  had  found  Him  they  made  haste  to 
proclaim  Him  to  the  world.  Just  so  every  child  of  God 
should  make  haste  to  find  Christ,  and  when  they  find  Him 
they  should  make  haste  to  tell  where  they  had  foujid 
Him. 

"  And  the  shepherds  returned,  glorifying  and  praising 
God  for  all  the  things  that  they  had  heard  and  seen,  as  it 
was  told  unto  them." 

"And  when  eight  days  were  accomplished  for  the  cir- 
cumcising of  the  child,  his  name  was  called  Jesus,  which 
was  so  named  of  the  angel  before  he  was  conceived  in  the 
womb." 

In  another  place  it  says.  He  shall  be  called  Jesus  be- 
cause He  shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins.  Now, 
isn't  He  able  to  save  His  people  from  their  sins  ?  Isn't 
Christ  able  to  save  every  sinner  if  he  puts  his  trust  in 
Him  ?  "  He  shall  be  called  Jesus  for  He  is  able  to  save 
His  people  from  their  sins."  Now,  can  any  man  save 
man  from  sin  .'*  Suppose  we  had  come  here  and  begun  to 
preach  some  other  man  than  Christ  during  the  last  ele\en 
weeks  that  we  have  been  here.  Do  you  think  there  would 
have  been  so  many  people  here  this  morning  "i  What 
other  name  could  we  have  preached  ?  Suppose  we  had 
preached  anything  but  Jesus  Christ.  Would  this  crowd 
be  here  this  morning?  Could  we  have  kept  them  here 
these  last  eleven  weeks  t  Why,  that  very  fact  shows  the 
power  of  Jesus'  name.  You  may  preach  other  names, 
their  virtues,  their  merits,  but  if  you  don't  tell  them  where 
they  can  get  the  power  to  get  rid  of  their  sins,  you  will 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  369 

preach  in  vain  ;  but  the  very  momentyou  go  on  and  preach 
about  Christ  you  show  them  where  they  can  get  the  power. 
He  shall  be  called  great,  says  the  Scripture.  Is  not  His 
name  great  ?  Where  is  there  a  name  to  be  compared  with 
it  ?  The  kings  of  the  earth  looked  down  on  Him  when 
He  was  down  here.  Although  He  was  great  He  became 
weak  ;  although  He  was  rich  He  became  poor  for  our 
sakes,  and  now  look  and  see  how  his  kingdom  is  being  ex- 
tended, and  how  the  heralds  of  the  Cross  are  going  over 
mountains — all  over  this  dark  earth  to  proclaim  His  word, 
and  wherever  heathen  nations  lift  up  their  hearts  to  re- 
ceive Him  how  quickly  they  become  exalted.  And  yet 
men  stand  up  and  say,  "  We  want  a  token.  We  want  some 
evidence  that  the  Bible  is  true."  What  greater  evidence  do 
you  want  ?  Look  around  you  and  see  what  Christ  is  doing. 
See  how  He  is  saving  the  oppressed.  See  how  He  is  lifting 
up  His  arm  to  save  the  drunkard,  the  outcast  and  the  un- 
fortunate. Thank  God  for  this  day  !  Thank  God  that  He  sent 
Christ  into  the  world  !  Oh,  what  a  dark  world  this  would 
have  been  if  Christ  had  not  come  !  Then  we  find  that  they 
take  Hmi  into  the  temple  and  there  something  else  wonder- 
ful takes  place.  People  talk  about  Christ  being  like  other 
ordinary  men  !  Why,  as  I  said  before,  if  you  take  Him  at 
His  birth.  His  life.  His  death  and  resurrection,  it  is  all  won- 
derful. You  can't  touch  His  life  anywhere  but  that  it  is 
wonderful.  He  is  not  like  other  men.  God  sent  Him  to 
be  a  mediator  between  Him  and  man,  and  He  had  to  be 
born  of  woman  that  He  might  be  in  sympathy  with  you 
and  me.  There  was  a  time  when  England  wanted  to 
conquer  Wales,  but  they  wouldn't  be  conquered.  They 
couldn't  subdue  these  Welsh  people.  They  didn't  want  to 
be  ruled  by  England.  They  wanted  a  king  of  their  own. 
They  wanted  a  king  born  on  V/elsh  soil.  So  the  Queen 
went  down  to  Wales,  to  the  Castle  Caernarvon,  and  when 
the  child  was  born   the  king  took  the  little  child   in  his 

24. 


370  ^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

arms  and  carried  it  out  to  the  gates,  and  the  people  in  the 
town  gathered  around  that  castle,  and  he  says  :  "  Behold 
your  prince  !  He  can't  speak  a  word  of  English.  He 
was  born  among  you — born  on  Welsh  soil."  And  so  they 
called  him  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  so  the  Crown  Prince 
has  ever  since  been  called  the  Prince  of  Wales  \  but  the 
moment  he  takes  the  throne  he  drops  that  name  and 
becomes  the  King  of  England.  Here  is  the  Prince  of 
Heaven,  who  came  down  here  and  was  born  of  woman,  so 
that  he  might  be  in  sympathy  with  you  and  me,  and  be  a 
mediator  between  God  and  man.  He  that  was  rich  be- 
came poor  for  our  sakes.  He  was  born  in  this  world. 
This  is  the  land  of  His  nativity,  but  he  belongs  to  heaven. 
Thank  God  He  belongs  in  heaven.  So,  my  friends,  to- 
day let  us  bear  in  mind  that  God  did  send  Christ  into  this 
world,  that  He  might  bring  about  the  grand  result — that 
He  might  be  mediator  between  God  and  man.  But  now 
they  take  Him  into  the  Temple  and  there  is  a  wonderful 
thing  takes  place.     Turn  to  Luke,  ii.  25  : 

"  And,  behold,  there  was  a  man  in  Jerusalem,  whose 
name  was  Simeon  ;  and  the  same  man  was  just  and  devout, 
waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel :  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  upon  him." 

Now,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  one  thought. 
Whenever  the  Holy  Ghost  is  upon  a  man  he  is  always 
speaking  well  of  Christ.  You  can't  find  a  man  who  is  full 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  but  what  he  will  speak  well  of  Christ. 
A  man  may  be  an  orator,  he  may  have  all  the  eloquence  in 
the  world,  and  he  may  be  great  in  the  sight  of  man,  but  if 
he  hasn't  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  him  he  is  not  great  in  the 
sight  of  God.  I  don't  blame  the  man  for  hallooing  out 
"  Amen  !  "  It's  good  news.  I  tell  you  when  a  man  has 
got  the  Holy  Ghost  he  can't  help  speaking  well  of  Christ. 
Now,  let  us  turn  to  the  26th  verse  : 

"And  it  was  revealed  unto  him  by  the   Holy  Ghost 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTE  ME  NT.  371 

that  he  should  not  see  death,  before  he  had  seen  the 
Lord's  Christ. 

"  And  he  came  by  the  Spirit  into  the  temple  :  and 
when  the  parents  brought  in  the  child  Jesus,  to  do  for  him 
after  the  custom  of  the  law, 

"  Then  took  he  him  up  in  his  arms,  and  blessed  God, 
and  said, 

"  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace, 
according  to  thy  word  : 

''  For  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation. 

"  Which  thou  hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  peo- 
ple ; 

"  A  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of  thy 
people  Israel." 

That  was  predicted.  The  light  had  not  gone  out  even 
to  the  Gentiles.  They  were  considered  by  the  Jews  out- 
casts. They  were  not  allowed  to  come  into  the  Temple — 
not  into  the  outer  court. 

"And  Joseph  and  his  mother  marvelled  at  those  things 
which  were  spoken  of  him." 

"  And  Simeon  blessed  them,  and  said  unto  Mary  his 
mother.  Behold,  this  childis  set  for  the  fall  and  rising  again 
of  many  in  Israel  ;  and  for  a  sign  which  shall  be  spoken 
against;" 

See  that !  How  true  that  was,  that  that  man's  coming 
into  the  temple  was  a  sign  that  shall  be  spoken  against. 
Wherever  you  preach  Christ,  there  will  be  something  said 
against  Him.  Just  bear  that  in  mind' — there  will  be  oppo- 
sition. There  is  something  down  in  the  human  heart  that 
is  so  under  the  power  of  the  devil  that  men  begin  to  resist 
when  you  preach  Christ ;  but  you  may  preach  everything 
else  but  that,  and  there  is  no  opposition,  and  when  a  man 
opposes  the  preaching  of  ministers  you  may  know  they  are 
preaching  the  Word  of  God.  But  when  men  applaud  and 
are  pleased,  and  say,  "  That  is  my  style,"  you  may  know 
they  are  not  giving  them  the  Word  of  God.  It's  a  true  sign 
tnat  you  are  preaching  the  Word  of  God  if  men  don't  like  it. 


372  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"  (Yea,  a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thy  own  soul  also,) 
that  the  thoughts  of  many  hearts  may  be  revealed." 

Now  that's  what  the  old  man  said.  Then  there  came 
in  an  old  widow,  the  finest-looking  woman  I  believe  in  all 
Jerusalem.  Her  face  just  shone,  I  don't  doubt  that.  She 
had  been  a  widow  for  eighty-four  years.  That's  a  long 
time  to  be  a  widow.  She  just  stayed  right  there  in  the 
temple  most  of  the  time  praising  God.  She  always  had  a 
heart  to  sympathize  with  those  that  were  in  trouble,  with 
the  outcasts  and  afflicted.  These  people  that  live  near 
God  get  the  secrets  of  the  Lord.  This  old  woman  had 
been  a  widow  for  eighty-four  years,  and  she  was  the  conso- 
lation of  Israel.  A  great  many  thought  she  was  a  fanatic. 
Th(^  idea  that  she  was  going  to  see  Christ — see  the  child 
Christ !  But  this  old  woman  had  been  praying  and  in 
communion  with  God,  and  she  had  got  at  the  secret  of  hea- 
ven, and  she  came  in  about  the  time  that  the  wise  men  of 
the  East  had  come  to  worship  the  child.  Look  at  that  old 
man,  with  his  white,  flowing  hair,  holding  the  child  in  his 
arms.  Look  at  this  beautiful  woman,  with  her  glorious 
wealth  of  flowing  white  hair,  and  see  what  she  says  about 
Him. 

"  And  she  coming  in  that  instant,  gave  thanks  likewise 
unto  the  Lord,  and  spake  of  him  to  all  them  that  looked 
for  redemjDtion  in  Jerusalem." 

There  was  the  whole  city  to  hear  and  see  this  young 
child.  When  He  was  first  brought  into  the  Temple  they 
recognized  Him  as  their  Lord — their  Redeemer  ;  He  was 
come  to  bring  redemption  to  Israel.  Now,  they  drop  out- 
side a  little,  and  the  next  thing  we  hear  is  that  there  is  a 
great  stir  in  Jerusalem  again.  The  story  of  Zacharias  had 
been  forgotten.  The  story  of  the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist 
seems  to  have  been  forgotten. 

And  the  stories  of  the  old  prophets  had  been  forgotten 


CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  373 

but  all  at  once  Jerusalem  is  stirred  up.  Some  wise  men 
coming  from  the  East — I  don't  know  where  they  came 
from — but  those  wise  men  came  into  the  city  and  wanted 
to  know  where  He  was  that  was  born  King  of  the  Jews, 
for  they  had  seen  His  star  in  the  East^  and  had  come  to 
worshi^D  Him.  Now,  people  say  they  can't  see  anything 
wonderful  about  Christ.  Wasn't  that  wonderful  ?  These 
wise  men  came  and  commenced  to  cry.  "  Holy !  Holy  ! 
Our  Lord  and  King  ! "  But  the  people  of  Jerusalem  in- 
stead of  lifting  up  their  voices  in  joy,  instead  of  sending 
forth  po2ans  of  praise  from  their  bells,  instead  of  shouting 
with  joy  and  gladness,  we  are  told  that  all  Jerusalem  is 
thrown  into  trouble.  And  if  they  had  had  papers  in  those 
days,  how  busy  the  reporters  would  have  been  in  trying  to 
find  out  what  it  all  meant !  After  those  wise  men  had 
come  to  find  out  where  Christ  was,  they  went  to  King 
Herod.  He  was  full  of  jealousy.  The  fires  of  hell  were 
burning  in  his  breast ;  but  he  kept  his  secret  buried  there. 
He  didn't  let  them  know  it.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest 
hypocrites  ever  known  in  this  world.  He  called  in  the 
wise  men  and  said,  ''  Look  and  see  where  the  young  child 
is  to  be  born."  And  they  looked  into  the  prophecies  and 
found  that  He  was  to  be  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea. 
Then  he  said,  "  Seek  him  and  find  him,  and  let  me  know 
so  that  I  may  go  down  and  worship  him."  A  lying  hypo- 
crite !  He  wanted  to  go  down  and  kill  the  child.  He 
didn't  want  to  worship  Him.  They  then  went  into  Naza- 
reth, and  we  find  the  wise  men  coming  to  worship  this  little 
babe.  Men  say  they  see  nothing  wonderful  about  Christ — 
nothing  strange  about  Him.  He  sent  them  there.  He 
brought  them  there,  and  they  just  bow  down  and  worship 
the  little  child.  What  a  God  He  was  !  A  God  in  the  flesh. 
He  was  the  Son  of  God.  He  came  from  heaven  to  redeem 
the  world.  And  now  we  find  next  that  instead  of  their 
coming  back  God  told   them   not  to ;  but  bear   in   mind 


374  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

everything  is  wonderful.  God  warned  them  not  to  go  back 
that  way.  So  they  went  back  another  way,  and  when  the 
Kins:  found  he  was  mocked  he  sent  down  and  had  all 
those  little  children  from  two  years  and  under  put  to  death. 
They  were  the  first  martyrs.  Our  Saviour  says,  "  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven."  Herod  was  the  first  who  lifted  up  his  sword 
against  Christ,  and  history  tells  us  that  he  didn't  live  thirty 
days  after  he  had  lifted  up  his  sword  against  our  Saviour. 
A  stone  fell  on  him  and  crushed  him  to  powder.  Instead 
of  yielding  to  Him,  he  took  up  his  sword  against  Him. 
But  how  God  took  care  of  that  little  child  down  in  Egypt ! 
Herod  was  called  Herod  the  Great.  But,  oh,  how  small 
he  appeared  in  God's  sight !  Herod  wouldn't  consent  to 
look  at  Christ,  he  was  so  great.  What  the  world  calls 
great  Christ  calls  small.  To  be  sure,  he  built  a  temple 
for  the  heathen.  He  was  one  of  those  men  that  want  to 
patronize  all  kinds  of  religion.  He  had  a  beautiful  wife^ 
but  he  was  jealous,  and  had  her  put  to  death.  He  had 
three  sons,  but  he  had  them  executed.  The  world  calls 
him  great ;  but  how  small  his  name  has  gone  down  to  pos- 
terity, rotten  with  the  sins  of  his  body.  Oh  !  I  tell  you  it  is 
hard  to  kick  against  the  pricks.  A  stone  cut  out  of  the 
mountain  is  going  to  fall  and  crush  all  who  war  against 
Christ.  Oh,  may  God  help  us  to  preach  the  coming  of 
Christ !  May  He  help  each  one  of  us  to  receive  the  Sav- 
iour. Our  time  is  coming  to  a  close,  and  next  Sunday 
morning,  the  Lord  help  me,  I  want  to  preach  about  His 
forerunner — John  the  Baptist.  Let  us  rise  and  receive  the 
benediction. 


CHRIST  AS  A  SHEPHERD. 


In  my  sermon  last  Sunday  week  you  will  remember  that 
I  wanted  ^:o  take  up  Christ  as  a  shepherd,  but  we  didn't 
have  time.  To-night  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  that 
precious  truth;  and  before  we  go  to  the  loth  chapter  of 
John  let  us  look  over  to  tke  23d  Psalm,  or  rather 
let  me  call  your  attention  to  a  few  verses  of  the  2 2d 
Psalm.  In  the  loth  chapter  of  John  we  find  the  Good 
Shepherd  laying  down  his  life  for  the  sheep,  or  as 
Paul  puts  it :  "  He  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me  !  " 
and  in  order  to  get  the  benefit  of  it  we  must  put  in  that 
little  word  "  me  "  just  as  much  as  if  there  were  no  other 
man  in  the  world.  In  the  22d  Psalm,  in  the  7th 
verse,  we  read  :  "  All  they  that  see  me  laugh  me  to 
scorn :  they  shoot  out  the  lip,  they  shake  the  head,  say- 
ing, he  trusted  on  the  Lord  that  he  would  deliver  him  : 
let  him  deliver  him,  seeing  that  he  delighted  in  him." 
And  in  the  i6th  verse  :  "  For  dogs  have  compassed 
me  :  the  assembly  of  the  wicked  have  inclosed  me :  they 
pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet."  Then  in  the  2-2d  Psalm 
we  find  the  Good  Shepherd  passing  through  the  valley 
of  death  with  his  flock :  "  Yea,  though  I  walk  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for 
thou  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort 
me."  There  is  the  Good  Shepherd  leading  His  flock 
through  death  and  judgment,  and  I  do  not  know  of  any 
one  passage  in  Scripture  that  is  more  misquoted  than  that. 

Vou  hear  people  say  "the   dark  valley,"  but  the  word 

375 


376  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

*'dark''  isn't  there  at  all.  All  that  death  can  do  to  the 
believer  is  just  to  throw  its  shadow  across  his  path.  It  is 
a  iDrecioiis  thing  to  have  Christ  as  our  Shepherd.  Some 
one  has  said  that  in  this  23d  Psalm  we  have  not 
only  Christ  going  before,  but  goodness  and  mercy  coming 
after.  An  Englishman  once  said  that  if  you  see  a  man 
always  walking  you  can  say  he  is  not  worth  much,  and  if 
he  has  a  carriage  of  his  own  he  is  worth  something ;  if  he 
has  a  carriage  with  one  footman  he  is  pretty  well  off,  but 
if  you  see  him  with  a  carriage  and  two  footmen  he  is  very 
well  off.  Now  a  good  Christian  has  two  footmen — good- 
ness and  mercy.  Men  who  are  away  from  the  Good  Shep- 
herd you  can  read  their  condition  on  their  foreheads — 
Want !  want !  Why  are  your  places  of  amusement,  your 
theatres,  crowded  every  night  ?  It  is  because  men  want 
and  want.  But  the  Christian  can  say,  ''  The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd  ;  I  shall  not  want."  And  then  in  the  24th 
Psalm  we  find  him  on  resurrection  ground,  and  he 
says  :  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates  ;  and  be  ye  lift  up, 
ye  everlasting  doors ;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come 
in.  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ?  The  Lord  strong  and 
mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle.  Lift  up  your  heads,  O 
ye  gates  ;  even  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors  ;  and  the 
King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  t 
The  Lord  of  Hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory."  And  no 
one  will  ever  see  God's  glory  until  they  have  got  on  to  res- 
urrection ground  and  seen  what  Christ  has  done  for  them. 
Over  here  in  Hebrews  we  find  He  is  a  God  of  peace.  And 
another  thing  he  does  is  to  make  us  lie  down,  to  rest. 
People  want  rest.  Oh  !  how  we  long  for  it.  Now,  the  Lord 
gives  his  people  rest.  He  maketh  us  to  lie  down  in  green 
pastures  and  leadeth  us  beside  still  watf.rs.  There  was  a 
friend  of  mine  in  England  who  told  me  that  she  went  out 
to  ride  one  day,  and  met  with  a  shepherd  with  a  large  flock 
of  sheep  in  front  of  him — instead  of  being  like  the  Good 


C.IRIST  AS  A  SHEPHERD.  377 

Shepherd,  he  was  not  leading  them,  but  driving  them  —  and 
if  they  stopped  to  eat  the  grass  by  the  wayside  a  dog  start- 
ed out  to  scare  them  on,  and  she  got  so  interested,  as  she 
thought  he  was  very  cruel,  that  she  just  watched  them  for 
a  long  time  ;  but  by  and  by  he  opened  the  gate,  and  they 
passed  into  a  beautiful  park,  and  she  saw  a  beautiful  stream 
running  through  that  park,  and  after  he  had  got  them  into 
that  enclosure  they  went  down  to  that  stream  and  drank, 
and  then  laid  down  by  the  side  of  that  river,  and  then  she 
understood  why  he  didn't  want  them  to  eat  by  the  road- 
side —  there  was  danger  there.  He  wanted  them  to  lie  down 
in  green  pastures  and  beside  the  still  waters.  Now  that  is 
not  a  good  illustration,  for  this  Good  Shepherd  never  drives 
us.  He  will  not  force  us  into  heaven.  But  you  will  find 
that  the  sheep  who  are  willing  to  follow  Him  —  the  men  and 
women  that  have  no  will  of  their  own,  but  have  only  God's 
will — how  they  prosper  !  If  we  could  just  learn  that  les- 
son, just  to  follow  the  Shepherd,  how  we  would  be  blessed  ! 
Now  we  turn  over  to  this  15th  chapter  of  Luke,  and 
we  find  one  of  the  sheep  going  astray,  and  we  find  the 
Shepherd  going  after  him.  I  may  be  speaking  here  to- 
night to  some  backslider.  I  am  come  to-night  to  tell  you 
that  the  Good  Shepherd  loves  you  still.  He  wants  to  bring 
you  back,  and  if  you  will  give  up  your  evil  ways,  and  let 
Him  bring  you  back,  you  can  say  with  the  Psalmist,  "  He 
restoreth  my  soul."  But  the  trouble  with  a  good  many  is, 
they  are  not  willing  to  be  brought  back  in  His  own  way. 
Doctor  Andrew  Bonar  told  me  how,  in  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  often  a  sheep  would  wander  off  into  the  rocks 
and  get  into  places  that  they  couldn't  get  out  of.  The 
grass  on  these  mountains  is  very  sweet  and  the  sheep  like 
it,  and  they  will  jump  down  ten  or  twelve  feet,  and  then 
they  can't  jump  back  again,  and  the  shepherd  hears  them 
bleating  in  distress.  They  may  be  there  for  days,  until 
they  have   eaten  all  the  grass,  and  he  will  wait  until   they 


37S 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


are  so  faint  that  they  cannot  stand,  and  then  they  put  a 
rope  around  him  and  he  will  go  over  there  and  pull  that 
sheep  up  out  of  the  jaws  of  death.  Why  don't  they  go 
down  there  when  the  sheep  first  gets  there  ?  I  asked. 
"  Ah  !  "  he  said,  "  they  are  so  very  foolish  they  would  dash 
right  over  the  precipice  and  be  killed  if  they  did  !  "  And 
that  is  the  way  with  men,  they  won't  go  back  to  God  till 
they  have  no  friends  and  have  lost  everything.  If  there 
is  a  wanderer  here  to-night  I  come  to  tell  you  that  the  Good 
Shepherd  will  bring  you  back  the  moment  you  have  given 
up  trying  to  save  yourself  and  are  willing  to  let  Him  save 
you  in  His  own  way.  Then  in  the  loth  chapter  of  John 
we  are  told  that  He  calleth  His  own  sheep  by  name.  A 
man  was  telling  me  that  in  the  Eastern  country  they  still 
keep  up  that  custom.  And  he  asked  one  of  those  Eastern 
shepherds  to  explain  to  him  how  he  could  tell  the  difference 
between  them.  And  the  shepherd  called  "  Karl,"  and  one 
sheep  came  out  and  looked  up  to  him.  And  then  he  call- 
ed another  and  then  another.  And  then  this  man  said,  "  I 
don't  understand  it.  How  is  it  1 "  "  Don't  you  see,"  said 
the  shepherd,  "  that  sheep  has  lost  a  bit  of  wool  there,  and 
that  one  has  a  black  spot  on  it  t  "  And  he  said  he  found  the 
shepherd  knew  every  one  of  his  sheep  by  their  failings.  He 
didn't  find  any  perfect  sheep.  I  know  some  of  these  men  in 
Boston  are  looking  for  perfect  sheep,  but  you  never  will  get 
into  the  fold  that  way.  You  needn't  be  looking  for  our  fail- 
ings, you  have  some  of  your  own.  A  person  came  to  me  the 
other  day  and  said,  "  Mr,  Moody,  why  don't  you  preach 
against  bad  temper  .?  I  think  it  is  the  worst  thing  people  have 
to  contend  with  !  "  I  said  :  "  The  Good  Shepherd  will  tell  you 
how  to  do  that.  If  He  can  take  away  the  appetite  of  these 
men  for  strong  drink,  why  can't  He  take  away  your  bad 
temper  1  Let  me  say  here  that  the  man  who  is  peevish  and 
snappish  and  cross  need  not  try  to  serve  God  ;  he  will  do 
more  Iiarm  than  good.     He  will  serve   God  a  great  deal 


CHRIST  AS  A  SHEPHERD.  37c) 

better  by  keeping  still.  If  a  man  has  got  his  heart  full  of 
hatred  and  malice  to  other  men,  how  is  he  going  to  pray  ? 
My  little  boy,  who  has  been  sick  and  in  the  habit  of  waking 
up  every  morning  at  six  o'clock,  an  hour  before  I  want  to 
wake,  woke  up  one  morning  at  half -past  five,  and  his  mother 
told  him  he  must  keep  still  for  an  hour  and  a  half ;  and  he 
kejDt  making  a  noise,  till  at  last  his  mother  had  to  speak 
prett}^  quick  to  him,  and  when  I  woke  up  I  found  the  lit- 
tle fellow  sobbing.  I  said,  "Willie,  what's  the  matter.?" 
Well,  he  was  pretty  angry  v/ith  his  mother.  He  got  out  of 
bed  and  knelt  dow^n,  and  I  said,  What  are  you  going  to  do  ? 
*'  I'm  going  to  say  my  prayers."  I  told  him  God  wouldn't 
hear  his  prayer  while  he  was  angry  with  his  mother.  If  you 
l:)ring  your  prayers  to  God  and  have  aught  against  your 
brother  you  need  not  pray.  Well,  the  little  fellow  went  off 
up  stairs,  and  by  and  by  he  went  up  and  asked  his  mother 
to  foi'give  him,  and  then  he  prayed  and  went  off  with  a 
liglu  heart  and  kept  a  light  heart  all  day.  Christ  says, 
"  Vou  can  get  the  victory  through  Me."  How  easy,  when 
the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts,  it  is  to  speak 
kindly  of  those  who  hate  us  and  speak  contemptuously  of 
us.  Some  men  want  to  get  the  whole  world  in  their  grasjD, 
and  never  care  for  the  unfortunate.  He  wants  the  Lord 
to  bless  him  and  his  family,  and  let  the  rest  of  the  world 
])(jrish.  Ah  !  my  friends,  you  want  to  take  that  fault  to  the 
Lord  and  ask  him  to  correct  it.  Another  feeling  men  have 
is  that  of  self-righteousness  and  self-sufficiency.  That  was 
tlie  trouble  with  Peter  once.  He  said  that  though  all  the 
rest  might  deny  the  Lord,  he  would  not,  and  it  was  not 
many  hours  before  he  denied  Him,  and  said  he  never  knew 
Him  at  all.  Ah  !  how  soon  we  learn  the  lesson  that  we 
need  His  care.  Then  we  have  another  besetting  sin — the 
fleL'h.  How  it  lusts  against  the  spirit !  How  the  lust  of 
the  pleasure  of  the  world  comes  in  and  mars  our  happiness, 
but  if  we  take  it  all  to  Christ  He  will  give  us  the  victory. 


380  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Then  there  is  another  thought,  if  we  are  truly  His  there  is 
no  power,  infernal  or  on  earth,  that  can  take  us  from  His 
grasp.  Neither  the  devil  nor  man  can  take  the  sheep  out 
of  the  Shepherd's  hand.  "  They  shall  never  perish,  neither 
shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  Father's  hand,"  (John 
X.  28.)  If  you  read  that  carefully  you  will  find  that  "  man  " 
is  put  in  italics,  and  really  the  true  rendering  is  that  "  none 
shall  take  them  out  of  my  hand."  The  Lord,  our  Shep- 
herd, is  able  to  take  care  of  His  sheep.  It  would  be  a  re- 
proach to  Him  for  all  eternity  if  Satan  should  prove  strong- 
er than  He.  A  man  over  in  Manchester  had  a  little  grey- 
hound that  he  was  training  for  a  race,  and  he  had  a  great 
bet  on  him  for  a  poor  man,  and  he  was  anxious  his  dog 
should  succeed.  The  day  came  and  the  dog  didn't  run  at 
all.  He  was  so  mad  that  he  took  and  beat  the  little  grey- 
hound, and  then  he  pushed  it  through  a  cage  in  which  there 
was  a  lion,  and  expected  to  see  it  eaten,  but  the  little  dog 
ran  right  up  to  the  lion  as  though  it  wanted  mercy,  and 
instead  of  the  lion  eating  it,  it  began  to  lap  it,  and  by  and 
by  the  man  called  to  the  dog  to  come  out,  but  he  wouldn't 
come.  By  and  by  he  offered  it  a  bait,  but  still  it  wouldn't 
come.  Then  he  put  his  hand  in  and  the  lion  began  to 
growl,  and  he  took  it  out  again.  And  some  people  went 
and  told  the  keeper  what  the  man  had  done  and  how  he 
had  ill-used  the  little  greyhound.  When  the  keeper  came 
around  the  man  wanted  him  to  get  his  dog  out  for  him. 
And  the  keeper  asked  him  how  he  got  in  there,  and  the 
man  was  ashamed  to  tell.  At  last  the  keeper  said,  "  You 
put  him  in,  you'd  better  go  and  get  him  out,  I  won't  get 
him  out  for  you."  And  so  the  dog  has  remained  there 
ever  since.  Now  that  may  be  a  homely  illustration,  but  I 
hope  it  will  fasten  on  your  minds  the  idea  that  we  are  no 
match  for  the  devil.  He  has  had  six  thousand  years'  expe 
rience.  I  always  tremble  when  I  hear  a  man  talk  of  defy- 
ing Satan,  and  I  want  to  add  "By  the  Grace  of  God,"*  *^^or 


CHRIST  AS  A  SHEPHERD. 


38« 


that  is  the  only  way.  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Jndah  will 
take  care  of  him  if  he  will  come  to  Him.  There  may  be 
some  poor  drunkard  in  here  to-night,  bound  hand  and  foot. 
He  is  trying  to  get  the  victory,  to  break  the  fetters  and  be- 
come a  free  man,  but  Satan  laughs  at  him.  He  signs  the 
pledge,  and  swears  by  all  that  is  good  and  holy  that  he 
won't  drink  again,  but  Satan  laughs,  for  he  knows  he  will 
have  him  down  again  inside  of  twenty-four  hours.  But  if 
he  comes  to  the  Good  Shepherd  He  will  take  care  of  him. 
All  you  have  to  do  is  just  to  follow  Him,  and  wherever  He 
leads  you  are  alw^ays  safe.  And  that  to  me  is  a  very  pre- 
cious thought — "  He  leadeth  me."  Why  not  to-night  every 
one  of  us  make  the  Lord  our  shepherd  and  say,  "  By  the 
grace  of  God  we  will  just  follow  Him  ?  "  He  will  never 
lead  us  astray,  but  will  lead  us  into  green  pastures  and 
beside  still  waters.  Dr.  Booth  of  New  York,  who  has  lost 
all  his  children — I  say  lost,  but  they  are  not  lost ;  they  are 
all  in  heaven — was  telling  me  about  being  in  an  Eastern 
country  some  time  ago,  and  he  saw  a  shepherd  going  down 
to  a  stream  and  he  wanted  to  get  his  flock  across.  He 
went  into  the  water  and  called  them  by  name,  but  they 
came  down  to  the  bank  and  bleated,  and  were  too  much 
afraid  to  follow.  At  last  he  got  out  of  the  water,  tightened 
his  girdle  about  his  lions,  and  took  up  two  little  lambs  and 
put  one  inside  his  frock,  and  another  inside  his  bosom. 
And  then  he  started  into  the  water,  and  the  old  ones  looked 
up  to  the  shepherd  instead  of  down  into  the  water,  they 
wanted  to  see  their  little  ones,  and  so  he  got  them  over  the 
water  and  led  them  into  the  green  pastures  on  the  other 
side.  How  many  times  the  Good  Shepherd  has  come  down 
here  and  taken  a  little  lamb  to  the  hill-tops  of  glory,  and  ; 
then  the  father  and  mother  begin  to  look  up  and  follow  ? 
Am  I  not  talking  to  some  father  or  mother  to-night  that 
has  some  loved  one  gone  over  the  stream  ?  The  Good 
Shepherd  has  taken  it  that  He  may  draw  you  to  that  world 


Vt) 


382  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

of  light,  where  He  has  gone  to  prepare  mansions  for  those 
that  love  Him.  A  minister  who  had  lost  his  child  asked 
another  minister  to  come  and  i^reach  for  him.  He  came 
and  he  told  how  he  lived  on  one  side  of  a  river  and  felt 
very  little  interest  in  the  people  on  the  other  side,  until  his 
daughter  was  married  and  went  over  there  to  live,  and  then 
^ery  morning  he  went  to  the  window  and  looked  over  that 
X  er,  and  felt  very  much  concerned  about  that  town  and 
ah  the  people  there.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  think  that  as 
this  child  has  crossed  another  river,  heaven  will  be  dearer 
to  him  than  ever  it  has  been  before."  Shall  we  not  just  let 
our  hearts  and  affections  to-night  be  set  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river  ?  It  is  but  a  step,  it  is  but  a  vail,  we  shall  soon 
be  in  the  other  world.  If  we  have  the  Good  Shepherd  He 
will  be  with  us  in  the  dying  hour,  and  what  wilt  thou  do  if 
He  is  not  with  thee  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan  ?  Oh  !  may 
God  help  each  one  of  us  to  be  wise  and  take  Christ  for  our 
Shepherd  to-night. 


THE  BLESSED  GOSPEL. 


I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to-night  to  a  part  of 
Luke  ix.  i8  : 

"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath 
annointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor  ;  he  hath 
sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance 
to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set 
at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised." 

You  that  have  been  attending  the  meetings  for  the 
past  few  months  know  that  I  have  spoken  upon  this  text 
before.  I  have  tried  to  tell  these  audiences  what  the 
gospel  is,  but  the  other  night,  talking  with  quite  an  intelli- 
gent man  in  the  inquiry-room,  I  thought  I  should  have  to 
begin  all  over  and  preach  all  over  again  to  the  people 
what  the  gospel  is.  I  asked  this  man  what  the  gospel 
was  and  he  said  it  was  "  doing  about  as  near  right  as  you 
could."  Another  one  said  it  was  keeping  the  ten  com- 
mandments. Now,  if  you  would  just  take  your  Bible  and 
read  a  few  chapters  you  would  find  out  that  the  gospel  of 
Christ  is  not  doing  the  best  you  can  or  keeping  the  Com- 
mandments merely,  or  trying  to  do  good,  in  fact  it  isn't 
"  trying  "  at  all.  If  I  should  tell  you  that  I  was  going  to 
go  down  among  you  to  ask  you  what  the  gospel  was,  no 
doubt  many  of  you  would  blush  and  you  would  get  up  and 
get  out,  for  you  don't  know.  You  would  say,  "  I  would 
not  like  to  have  him   ask  me  that  question."     I  think  I 

should  have  a  pretty  small  audience  if  I  was  to  bring  the 

383 


,p,4  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

question  right  home  to  yoa  and  ask  you  to  tell  me  what 
you  really  think  the  gospel  is.  It  is  represented  in  the 
Scripture  as  good  news.  "  Behold,  I  bring  you  tidings  of 
great  joy."  "  Unto  you  is  born  a  Saviour."  That  is  the 
Gospel.  God  has  given  as  a  substitute,  God  has  sent 
Christ  to  die  for  our  sins.  "  How  beautiful  are  they  that 
preach  the  gospel  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things." 
It  was  this  that  Paul  felt.  He  had  good  news,  and  he 
could  not  keep  it.  If  I  could,  only  make  you  believe  this, 
that  the  gospel  is  glad  tidings,  I  could  convert  everyone 
of  you  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes.  If  men  could  only 
believe  that  this  is  good  news,  how  soon  they  would  be 
saved.  I  once  heard  of  a  man  who  went  to  preach  in  a 
theatre,  and  when  he  came  upon  the  stage  he  didn't  have 
anyone  in  the  hall.  The  man  that  had  charge  of  the 
theatre  was  the  only  person  present,  and  he  came  and 
looked  in  upon  him,  and  another  man  connected  with  the 
theatre  came  and  peeped  in.  The  preacher  could  hardly 
believe  that  it  was  so,  that  men  would  not  come  to  hear 
the  Word  of  God.  So  he  got  his  hat  and  Bible  and  went 
down  upon  the  beach,  and  the  people  were  walking  up  and 
down  upon  the  sand,  and  he  tried  to  get  them  to  hear  the 
Word  of  God,  but  they  all  passed  him.  But  soon  he  saw 
a  man  with  a  basket,  that  could  not  sell  his  herrings  and 
he  went  up  to  him  and  he  bought  all  the  herrings  ;  and  he 
said  to  the  man,  "Now  go  and  give  them  away  freely  to 
the  people."  "Do  you  w^ant  me  to  give  them  away?" 
Why,  the  man  was  astonished.  He  had  never  heard  of 
such  a  thing  before.  "Yes,  I  want  you  to  give  them 
away."  And  the  man  started  and  he  cried  out  "  Herrings 
for  nothing  !  Herrings  for  nothing  !  "  But  he  could  not 
get  a  man  or  woman  to  take  any.  And  he  came  back  and 
he  said,  "  I  never  saw  so  many  fools  ;  there  isn't  one  of 
them  that  will  take  a  herring."  "  Well,"  said  the  minister, 
*' I  will   go   down   with  you."     And    so    he   went  crying. 


THE  BLESSED  GOSPEL. 


385 


"  Herrings  for  nothing  !  "  "  Herrings  for  nothing  !  "  But 
they  would  not  take  any;  they  didn't  believe  it  was  true. 
Ah,  you  may  laugh,  but  you  would  have  acted  the  same 
way.  At  last  one  came  up  to  him  and  held  out  his  hand, 
as  though  he  was  afraid  he  was  going  to  be  fooled,  but  he 
got  a  herring  ;  and  then  they  all  came  rushing  up  for  the 
herrings,  and  he  gave  them  away ;  and  then  he  preached 
the  gospel  to  them.  That  is.  what  God  wants  to  do.  He 
wants  to  give  you  something.  He  doesn't  want  anything 
from  you  other  than  your  love. 

There  isn't  a  sinner  but  that  owes  God  a  debt,  a  heavy 
debt.  God  can  pay  your  debts  this  moment.  He  says  : 
"  I  will  put  your  sins  out  of  the  way  if  you  will  bring  them 
to  Me."  You  can  bring  them  to  Him  to-night  if  you  will. 
Does  He  not  say  in  the  43d  chapter  of  Isaiah  and  the  25th 
verse : 

"  I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  transgressions 
for  mine  own  sake,  and  will  not  remember  thy  sins." 

You  see  a  cloud  upon  the  sky  to-night  and  in  the  morn- 
ing it  is  not  there.  You  cannot  tell  what  has  become  of 
that  cloud.  If  God  has  put  away  your  sins  they  are  blotted 
out,  and  there  is  not  a  devil  in  hell  that  can  get  at  them. 
All  sin  is  against  God,  and  God  must  forgive  sin.  It  is 
through  Christ  that  we  must  be  justified.  Come  and  taste 
salvation  as  a  gift.  You  cannot  buy  it.  The  gospel  is 
free  as  the  air  that  you  breathe,  and  every  man  has  an  in- 
vitation to  come  and  take  of  it.  He  says,  "  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked."  It  is  the  sinner  that 
God  wants.  There  will  be  no  peace  for  a  man  until  his 
sin  is  put  away.  You  may  go  off  to  the  theatre  ;  you  may 
try  to  drown  it  in  drink  in  the  saloon  to  kill  your  feelings 
and  keep  your  conscience  quiet;  but  there  is,  no  peace, 
for  God  has  decreed  that  "  there  is  no  rest  for  the  wicked." 
I  sometimes  hear  of  men  who  say  that  they  are  Christians, 

25 


386 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


that  they  are  members  of  churches,  but  that  they  are  not 
at  peace.  When  I  hear  a  man  say  that  hi  is  a  Christian, 
but  is  not  at  peace,  I  am  always  suspicious  of  his  conver- 
sion. "  My  peace  I  leave  with  you."  It  isn't  your  peace 
but  the  peace  of  God  that  you  have.  There  are  a  great 
many  men  who  want  peace,  but  want  to  cover  up  some 
sin.  You  cannot  have  peace  until  you  have  brought  that 
sin  to  Christ  and  He  has  put  it  away.  My  little  boy  had 
some  trouble  with  his  sister  on  Saturday  and  he  did  not 
want  to  forgive  her.  And  at  night  he  was  going  to  say 
his  prayers  and  I  wanted  to  see  how  he  would  say  his 
prayers,  and  he  knelt  down  by  his  mother  and  said  his 
prayers,  and  then  I  went  up  to  him  and  I  said,  "^  Willie, 
did  you  pray  ? '"'  '"'  I  said  my  prayers."  "  Yes,  but  did 
you  pray.?"  "I  said  my  prayers."  "I  know  you  said 
them,  but  did  you  pray .''  "  He  hung  his  head.  "  You 
are  angry  wdth  your  sister  ? "  "  Well,  she  had  no  busi- 
ness to  do  thus  and  so."  "That  has  nothing  to  do 
with  it ;  you  have  the  wrong  idea,  my  boy,  if  you  think 
that  you  prayed  to-night."  You  see  he  was  trying  to  get 
over  it  by  saying,  "  I  said  my  prayers  to-night."  I  find 
that  people  say  their  prayers  every  night,  just  to  ease  their 
conscience.  And  then  I  said  :  "  Willie,  if  you  don't  for- 
give your  sister,  you  will  not  sleep  to- night.  Ask  her  to 
forgive  you."  He  didn't  want  to  do  that.  He  loves  the 
countr}^,  and  he  has  been  talking  a  great  deal  about  the 
time  when  he  can  go  into  the  country  and  play  out-doors. 
So  he  said  :  "  Oh,  yes,  I  will  sleep  well  enough  ;  I  am  going 
to  think  about  being  out  there  in  the  country  !"  That  is 
the  way  that  we  are  trying  to  do ;  we  are  trying  to  think 
of  something  else  to  get  rid  of  the  thought  of  these  sins, 
but  we  cannot.  I  said  nothing  more  to  him.  I  went  on 
studying,  .and  his  mother  came  down  stairs.  But  soon  he 
called  his  mother  and  said,  "  Mother,  won't  you  please  go 
up   and  ask   Emma  if  she  won't  forgive  me?"     Then   I 


THE  BLESSED  GOSPEL.  387 

afterwards  heard  him  murmuringin  bed,  and  he  was  saying 
his  prayers.  And  he  said  to  me,  '*'  Papa,  you  were  right. 
I  could  not  sleep,  and  I  cannot  tell  you  how  happy  I  am 
now."  Don't  you  think  there  is  any  peace  until  your  sins 
are  put  away.  My  dear  friends,  the  gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  gospel  of  peace.  If  men  could  buy 
peace  how  much  they  would  be  willing  to  give  for  it !  I 
heard  a  man  the  other  day  say  that  he  would  give  ^100,000 
if  he  could  buy  peace  with  that.  We  have  got  to  take  it 
as  a  gift  if  we  would  have  it.  When  this  country  was  at 
war  with  England,  we  sent  Commissioners  over  to  England 
to  see  if  arrangements  for  peace  could  be  made.  It  took 
a  long  time  then  to  get  news  from  the  old  country,  and 
how  anxious  they  all  were  here  to  hear  the  result.  And 
then  it  was  known  that  the  Commissioners  were  coming 
home.  And  then  came  the  news  that  the  vessel  had  got 
up  to  Sandy  Hook  but  would  not  be  up  till  the  next  day, 
and  a  great  many  went  down  to  the  shore  and  waited. 
But  the  Commissioners  could  not  wait.  They  had  good 
news.  So  they  rowed  into  the  shore,  and  when  they  came 
in  sight  they  called  "  Peace,  peace,  peace  !  "  There  was 
going  to  be  be  no  more  war,  it  was  peace  now.  The 
country  has  never  heard  such  news,  unless  perhaps  the 
news  of  Lee's  surrender.  It  is  so  with  God.  The  'mo- 
ment we  are  reconciled  to  God  that  moment  we  have 
peace  and  are  made  glad.  We  find  in  the  inquiry-room  a 
great  many  that  are  looking  for  feeling.  They  are  anxious 
to  be  anxious.  There  are  two  ways  of  coming  to  Christ. 
One  is  to  come  to  the  cross  and  cast  your  burden  of  sin 
there  like  Bunyan  ;  and  another  is  to  feel  your  need,  and 
cry  out  for  something  that  you  want.  If  you  desire  to  be 
saved  you  can  be  saved,  but  you  must  be  saved  through 
Christ. 

You   cannot  work   out  your  own  salvation  unless  you 
are  first  saved.     During  the  siege  of  Paris,  one  dark  night, 


388  ^^  ^^^  PEOPLE. 

a  troop  of  soldiers  went  out  to  pick  up  the  wounded,  and 
they  were  afraid  to  make  any  noise  for  fear  the  enemy 
would  hear  them.  And  they  called  softly,  but  loud  enough 
for  the  wounded  to  hear  them.  "  If  there  are  any  wounded 
they  will  be  brought  into  Paris  in  the  ambulances  ; '"  and 
from  all  sides  came  the  responses.  If  there  is  anyone  in 
this  assembly  that  will  cry  cut,  "  I  am  wounded  ;  I  need  a 
Saviour,"  He  will  come  and  help  them  to-night.  It  was 
Chicago's  need  that  brought  out  the  sympathy  of  St.  Louis, 
Cincinnati  and  Boston,  and  it  is  your  need,  your  misfor- 
tune, your  sin  that  calls  out  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  God. 
There  was  a  story  told  me  while  I  was  in  Philadelphia  by 
Chaplain  Henry  Clay  Trumbull.  He  said  when  he  was  in 
Libby  Prison  the  news  came  that  his  wife  was  in  Washing- 
ton and  his  little  child  was  dying,  and  the  next  news  that 
came  was  that  his  child  was  dead,  and  the  mother  re- 
mained in  Washington  in  hopes  that  her  husband  could 
come  with  her  and  take  that  child  off  to  New  England  and 
bury  it,  but  that  was  the  last  he  heard.  One  day  the  news 
came  into  the  prison  that  there  was  a  boat  up  from  City 
Point,  and  there  were  over  900  men  in  the  prison  rejoicing 
at  once.  They  expected  to  get  good  news.  Then  came 
the  news  that  there  was  only  one  man  in  that  whple  num- 
ber that  was  to  be  let  go,  and  they  all  began  to  say,;  "  Who 
is  it  ?  "  It  was  some  one  who  had  some  influential  friend 
at  Washington  that  had  persuaded  the  Government  to 
take  an  interest  in  him  and  get  him  out.  The  whole  prison 
was  excited.  At  last  an  officer  came  and  shouted  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  "  Henry  Clay  Trumbull  !  "  The  chaplain 
told  me  his  name  never  sounded  so  sweet  to  him  as  it  did 
that  day.  God  will  deliver  you.  He  gives  out  a  universal 
call :  not  for  one  but  for  all.  Christ  calls  you  to  Him. 
He  will  forgive  all  your  sins. 

He  came  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  and  if  men  will 
Only  take  their  brokei    hearts  to  him  He  can  heal  them. 


THE  BLESSED  GOSPEL. 


389 


There  isn't  a  solitary  soul,  that  has  a  burden  to  bear,  but 
can  carry  it  to  Christ  and  fiud  relief.  There  are  a  great 
many  daughters  of  affliction  and  sons  of  sorrow  here.  If 
all  of  them  in  this  city  were  to  march  in  here,  and  through 
the  other  door,  they  would  not  all  pass  in  a  day.  And 
how  many  of  them,  if  we  had  time  for  them  to  testify, 
would  tell  how  He  has  healed  their  hearts,  how  He 
has  come  to  them  in  their  hours  of  darkness !  You 
need  not  go  down  among  the  poor  and  degraded  to  find  it. 
You  can  find  it  in  the  mansions  on  Beacon  street.  In 
some  closets  there  are  skeletons.  There  are  those  who 
have  some  woeful  story  to  tell  ;  they  try  to  cover  it  up  and 
smooth  it  over,  but  trouble  is  there.  In  fact,  my  friends, 
as  somebody  has  said,  "  there  is  a  sepulchre  in  everyone's 
garden."  He  walked  upon  the  waters,  and  called  to  his 
disciples,  "It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid."  Right  in  the  storm 
and  in  the  midst  of  your  affliction  He  will  come  to  you  and 
give  peace  to  your  soul  and  cause  you  to  rest  in  His  love. 
Let  me  call  your  attention  to  this  one  truth.  There  was 
not  a  man  or  a  woman  that  came  to  Christ  when  upon 
earth,  in  person,  with  any  affliction  or  any  sorrow,  but  He 
received  them  and  healed  them.  If  a  mother  prays  for  her 
boy  that  is  going  astray,  she  can  get  her  prayer  answered. 
If  there  is  a  son  in  possession  of  the  devil,  a  petition  to 
God  for  him  will  be  answered.  He  heals  every  broken 
heart  i-f  we  will  only  draw  near  to  Him.  He  could  do  this 
while  He  was  upon  earth  with  us.  He  has  just  as  much 
power  now  as  He  had  then.  If  they  will  only  come  to 
Him,  He  will  take  them  and  He  will  bear  their  burdens. 
He  says,  "  Cast  your  burdens  upon  me."  He  will  heal 
every  crushed,  bruised  and  bleeding  heart.  How  many 
are  willing  to  pour  the  sins  of  their  hearts  out  upon  Him. 
How  many  are  praying  to  have  the  thorn  removed  from 
their  hearts  ;  but  oh,  how  few  are  praying  for  the  grace  to 
bear  those  thorns  !  Many  '\  mother  is  stumbling  over  some 


390 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


little  grave.  I  was  talking  to  a  lady  in  the  inquiry-room 
recently,  and  I  hope  she  is  here  now,  and  she  said  she  had 
•'  never  sinned."  Never  committed  one  sin  in  thought, 
word  or  deed.  That  was  the  first  lady  that  I  ever  met  that 
thought  she  was  perfectly  free  from  sin.  I  was  trying  to 
get  at  her,  and  I  said,  "  Have  you  any  children  ? "  she 
said,  "  YeS;  I  have  a  boy,  and  I  just  worship  that  boy." 
"You  say  you  keep  all  the  Commandments.  Why,  you 
have  broken  the  very  first  one.  You  are  making  an  idol 
of  that  boy.  That  boy  is  coming  in  between  you  and 
Christ."  Well,  she  said  she  couldn't  help  it.  She  "just 
adored  that  boy."  There  is  many  a  father  and  mother  that 
are  idolaters.  We  condemn  the  poor  heathen  for  worship- 
ping idols  and  yet  here  in  cultivated,  enlightened  Boston, 
there  are  many  who  are  worshipping  idols.  When  a  parent 
is  thus  making  a  god  of  a  child  isn't  it  a  mercy  that  God 
takes  that  child  away  ?  If  God  permitted  you  to  go  on  in 
that  way,  wouldn't  it  be  the  ruin  of  your  soul  ?  I  have 
met  a  great  many  mothers  that  have  been  obliged  to  say 
that  it  was  a  blessing  that  God  had  taken  their  children 
away  from  them.  There  is  no  danger  of  loving  your  children 
if  you  love  Christ  more.  Christ  is  to  have  the  first  place  in 
our  love  and  affection,  and  He  will  then  never  ^ileave  us  in 
our  hour  of  trouble  and  sorrow.  If  you  have  been  guilty 
of  that  sin  to-day,  oh,  will  you  just  ask  God  to  forgive  you  .? 
Jesus  Christ  will  come  unto  you  and  be  more  to  you  than 
that  loved  child.  He  can  be  more  to  you  than  all  you 
have  lost.  He  will  be  your  Counsellor,  your  Friend,  your 
Shepherd,  your  Comforter,  if  you  will  let  Him.  I  o-nce 
knew  a  mother  who  had  seven  children  ;  she  worshipped 
them  and  she  thought  more  of  them  than  she  did  of  God, 
and  God  took  one  of  her  children  and  she  was  only  moved 
to  hate  Him  ;  and  He  took  another,  and  still  she  did  not 
bow  to  Him  or  go  to  Him  for  relief,  and  so  He  went  on 
taking  them  until  there  was  I  ut  one  left,  and  then  God 


THE  BLESSED  GOSPEL.  391 

took  that  one.  She  said  :  "  I  never  gave  my  heart  to  God 
until  the  seventh  one  was  taken.  And  now  I  want  to  say 
that  I  have  come  to  Him  and  that  he  has  made  up  that 
loss  to  me.  I  would  rather  be  as  I  am,  without  children,  and 
know  that  they  are  safe  in  Christ  than  to  be  as  I  was  with 
them." 

God  comes  this  day  to  you.  Just  ask  Him  to  forgive 
you.  Bring  your  heart  to  Him  and  He  will  bind  it  up 
and  heal  it  ;  He  will  take  your  burden  upon  Him  and 
you  can  go  rejoicing  in  anew  found  Saviour.  You  want  to 
get  Christ  into  your  homes. 

There  is  a  woman  I  have  met  within  twenty-four  hours 
who  has  a  drunken  husband  and  five  children.  She  is  not 
a  Christian,  but  if  she  will  only  take  Christ  into  that  home 
and  just  live  for  Christ,  it  v/on't  be  long  before  that  hus- 
band is  won  to  the  Saviour.  I  heard  the  story  of  a  father 
who  was  an  infidel  and  a  drunkard,  and  he  had  a  little  son 
who  became  a  convert  to  Christ.  But  his  father  forbade 
him  to  pray  and  he  flogged  him  for  praying.  But  this  didn't 
stop  it,  and  finally  he  said  to  the  boy.  "  If  you  continue 
to  pray  you  must  leave  the  house."  And  the  boy  went  and 
did  up  a  little  bundle  of  clothes  and  went  to  his  mother 
and  said,  "  Good-by,  mother  ;  "  and  she  said,  "  Why,  where 
are  you  going?"  "I  don't  know."  "Why,  what  do  you 
mean  t "  "  Well,  father  says  he  won't  have  me  in  the 
house  if  I  am  a  Christian,  and  I  must  joray  to  God."  Well, 
the  mother  hated  to  part  with  him,  but  saw  it  would  be  of 
no  use  to  oppose  him  ;  so  she  kissed  him,  and  with  tears 
running  down  her  cheeks  she  said  "  farewell."  And  then  the 
boy  kissed  his  little  sister  and  held  out  his  hand  to  his 
father  and  said,  "  Good-by,  father  ;  I  shall  pray  for  you." 
And  as  he  went  down  street  his  father  couldn't  stand  it  and 
he  came  running  down  after  him,  and  he  said,  "  Come 
back  ;  if  that  is  religion  I  want  it."  The  boy  prayed  with 
him  that  night,  and  that  drunkard  and  that  infidel  was  con- 


392  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

verted.  If  there  is  a  mother  here  that  has  a  dark  home, 
let  her  take  Christ  into  it.  If  she  has  a  husband  that 
hales  her  and  hates  church,  Christ  has  the  power  to  break 
that  heart  and  then  heal  it.  Oh,  may  God  help  us  to  real- 
ize this  truth  that  God  sent  Christ  into  the  world  to  heal 
the  heart !  He  can  heal  every  broken  heart  in  this  assem- 
bly, every  broken  heart  in  all  Boston,  if  you  will  only  bring 
your  crushed  and  wounded  and  bleeding  hearts  to  Him. 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     II. 


You  that  have  been  attending  the  meetings  this  week, 

remember  I  have  been  speaking  from  tlie  i8th  verse  of  the 

14th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  Luke — what  Christ 

came  to  do — and  there  we  get  that  clause  in  the   verse 

where  it  says  he  came  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captive. 

He  didn't  come  to  preach   great  and   eloquent  sermons. 

He  didn't  come  to  show  his  wisdom,  nor  did  he  come  to 

preach  the  greatness  of  man,  or  how  man   was  going  to 

improve  this  world.     He  had  got  something  better  than 

that.     He  came  to  teJl  man  how  he  could  be  saved.     He 

came  to  preach  deliverance,  to  set  the  captives  free  ;  and 

I   don't  think   any   man  or   any  woman  knows   what  true 

liberty  is  until  they  have  been  set  free  by  the  Lord  Jesus 

Christ.     A  great  many  don't  want  to  become  Christians 

because  they  don't  want  to  surrender  up  their  liberty.    Now, 

there  is  no   liberty  until  we  are  in   Christ — in  the  liberty 

wherewith  he  makes  us  free.    For  6000  years  Satan  has  been 

binding  men.     That  is  his  work.     He  has  worked  day  and 

night  to  bind  us  —  some  in  one  way  and  some  in  another. 

And  he  has  got  all  men  bound  that  have  not  been  set  free 

by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     They  may  not  know  it.     They 

may  not  admit  it ;    but  nevertheless  it  is  true.     And  the 

first  thing  for  us  to  know  is  that  we  are  bound  and  that  we 

have  not  got  the  power  to  set  ourselves  fiee.  The  strongest- 

393 


394  ^'^  ^^^  PEOPLE. 

minded  man  that  has  ever  lived  in  this  world  has  not  had 
power  to  deliver  himself.  Alexander  the  Great  could  con- 
quer worlds,  but  he  could  not  conquer  himself,  and  died  a 
miserable  drunkard  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  in  Babylon 
■ — a  conqueror  of  man,  but  a  man  that  could  not  deliver 
himself.  There  is  averse  in  the  2d  chapter  of  Amos,  the 
14th  verse. 

"  Therefore  the  flight  shall  perish  from  the  swift,  and 
the  strong  shall  not  strengthen  his  force,  neither  shall  the 
mighty  deliver  himself." 

Now,  let  each  one  of  us  ask  ourselves,  how  will  Satan 
deal  with  us  1  What  is  our  besetting  sin  ?  For  every  man 
and  woman  has  got  some  weak  point  in  their  character, 
and  Satan  knows  very  well  what  that  weak  point  is,  and 
that  is  just  where  he  assails  you.  He  blinds  some  men  by 
self-conceit,  and  some  by  drunkenness,  and  yet  these  self- 
conceited  men  look  down  on  these  poor  drunkards,  look  • 
down  on  some  of  these  poor  men,  living  in  open  sin,  they 
look  down  on  them  with  scorn  in  their  own  self-conceit ; 
and  yet  they  are  just  as  bad.  I  believe  that  self-concious- 
ness  is  one  of  the  besetting  sins  of  the  present  day.  And 
others  he  binds  by  jealousy.  How  many  men  and  women 
are  spending  miserable,  wretched  lives  on  account  of  that 
terrible  enemy,  jealousy  !  Now,  what  we  want  is  to  be  de- 
livered from  all  these  sins.  Jealousy  is  a  sin  in  the  sight 
of  God.  Many  make  their  lives  dark  and  bitter  through 
the  sin  of  jealousy  ;  but  many  tell  us  that  that  is  a  part  of 
human  nature,  and  that  we  cannot  get  deliverance  from  it 
because  it  is  so.  Why,  that  is  just  what  Christ  came  into 
the  world  to  do — to  deliver  us  from  these  sins.  Then  there 
is  another  class  that  have  got  miserable,  contemptible  tem- 
pers. It's  very  hard  work  to  get  at  them.  They  never 
swear,  they  never  blaspheme.  A  great  many  women  make 
trouble  on  account  of  their  tempers — make  things  very  hot 
at  home,  sometimes.     They  don't  think  they  are  bad — they 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     IL 


395 


don't  think  they  have  got  to  be  delivered  from  that  sin. 
But  I  tell  you  we  want  to  be  delivered  from  all  those  sins. 
They  are  all  sins  in  the  sight  of  God.  No  man  can  be 
successful  in  the  sight  of  God  and  Christ  if  they  are  bound 
by  these  sins.  There  is  not  one  here  to-day  but  can  get 
deliverance.  Jesus  came  for  that  very  purpose.  Another 
man  is  troubled  with  the  love  of  money,  which  eats  like  a 
canker  into  his  soul  —  eats  out  all  his  soul  —  and  yet  he 
looks  down  on  the  poor  and  unfortunate  ;  he  forgets  that 
he  is  just  as  bad  as  these  very  men.  But  he  can  be  deliv- 
ered if  he  only  comes  to  Christ.  I  need  not  go  on  to  enu- 
merate these  sins,  and  if  I  should  go  on  all  day  I  could 
not  enumerate  them  all.  Every  one  of  us  can  get  rid  of 
those  sins,  for  the  Son  of  God  came  into  the  world  for  that 
very  purpose — to  set  the  poor  captives  of  sin  free.  There 
is  not  one  that  is  troubled  with  any  sin  but  what  he  can 
find  a  Deliverer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  can  set  us 
free,  and  we  can  go  on  rejoicing  like  a  bird  on  the  wing,  re- 
joicing all  the  time,  if  we  will  only  give  ourselves  to  Him. 
He  will  deliver  us.  There  is  a  sin  I  have  been  dwelling 
on  during  the  good  many  weeks  I  have  been  here,  and 
that  is  intemperance,  and  the  reason  is  that  there  is  not  a 
day  but  that  some  poor  captive  comes  in  here  bound  hand 
and  foot  with  the  claims  of  intemperance.  Some  of  them 
may  say,  "  Oh,  I'm  all  right,  I'll  come  round  all  right  in  a 
little  wdiile."  And  some  of  them  said,  "  When  I  took  the 
pledge,  and  broke  it,  I  thought  I  could  break  that  litde 
pledge,  and  kept  on  until  my  habit  became  a  little  cord 
that  bound  me  to  intemperance.  Yea,  it  became  some- 
thing stronger  thau  a  cord— it  became  a  chain,  and  now  I 
cannot  get  away  from  it."  But,  thank  God,  I  can  proclaim 
the  good  news  that  Christ  can  deliver  us  from  all  our  sins, 
and  I  don't  care  if  you  are  bound  hand  and  foot  with  sin,  if 
you  only  come  to  Him,  he  will  save  you.  And  what  Satan 
has  been  doing  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  '■>'>onths  or  years, 


39^ 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


it  don't  take  the  Lord  a  day  to  undo.  He  will  give  you  vic- 
tory through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  on  Calva- 
ry. While  I  was  studying  this  sermon  this  morning,  my 
wife  was  opening  the  letters  and  while  doing  so,  she  says, 
"  Here  is  a  letter  I  think  may  interest  you.  Let  me  read 
it  to  you."  So  she  read  it  and  I  said  :  "  That  will  just  fit 
what  I  am  reading."  I  had  got  to  that  place  where  Satan 
was  binding  men  through  their  appetites  and  I  took  that 
letter  in  my  hands  and  commenced  reading  it.  It  was 
written  on  the  8th  of  April  away  down  in  Michigan,  and 
was  as  follows  : 

*  Mr.  Moody : 

Sir  :  I  give  this  as  my  own  testimony  as  to  what  the 
Lord  has  done  for  me.  I  came  home  one  day  very  drunk. 
I  fell  on  the  lounge,  and  in  a  short  time  I  heard  my  little 
boy,  four  years  old,  say,  '  Mamma,  I  will  go  saw  you  some 
wood.'  I  staggered  to  the  barn  and  I  asked  God  to  have 
mercy  on  me  as  a  sinner.  That  is  nearly  four  years  ago, 
and  to-day  finds  me  rejoicing  in  God  and  a  Saviour  of  my 
soul." 

God  can  save  men  when  they  are  drunk,  and  bless  his 
holy  name,  there  is  a  m.an  away  out  there  on  the  jDlains  of 
Michigan  sending  this  testimony,  that  God  has  got  the  jdow- 
er  to  save  these  men  that  are  bound  by  passion,  by  appe- 
tite, by  lust,  or  any  sin,  I  don't  care  what  it  is.  Christ  came 
for  that  purpose  —  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tives. 

Those  of  you  who  have  been  at  these  meetings  know 
that  I  have  often  referred  on  this  jolatform  to  the  evil  of 
strong  drink.  When  we  first  came  to  Boston  a  merchant 
came  to  me  and  said,  "  I  hope  you  will  not  preach  a  sermon 
without  some  reference  to  the  evil  of  strong  drink."  I 
have  gone  a  long  way  out  of  my  course  sonietimes  to  get  it 
in,  but  I  have  brought  it  in  somehow,  for  there  is  something 
peculiarly  terrible  in  this  sin,  which  has  thrown   its  blight 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.    II.  2>()J 

across  every  path,  and  into  almost  every  family  and  home  ; 
and  if  there  is  a  poor  drunkard  here  to-night,  bound  in  sin, 
I  want  to  say  to  him  that  Christ  is   a  mighty   deliverer. 
But  our  friend,   Mr.    Sawyer,  could   tell  you  that  this   is 
nothing  new.     There  are  thousands  in  Boston  who  can  tell 
the  same  story  of  deliverance  from  the  bondage  of  strong 
drink.     Isn't  that  so?    [Mr.   Sawyer  made   an  affirmative 
answer  in  a  low  tone,  and  Mr.  Moody  said,  "  Speak  up,  so 
that  they  can  hear  you.     Isn't  it  true  that  these  converted 
men  have  been  saved  from  sin  ?      Aren't  they  all  free  from 
their  appetite  }  "  "  Every  one,"  said  Mr.  Sawyer  in  a  loud 
voice.     "  Mr.  Tyng,  haven't  you   found  the   same  thing  in 
your  experience   with  converted  drunkards.'*"  "Yes,  sir," 
responded   the    New   York   divine,    and  the    sermon  was 
resumed.]    The  service  of  Satan  is  utterly  profitless.     Say, 
blasphemer,  you  that  take  the   name  of  the   Lord  in  vain, 
what  CO  you  get  for  your   sin  .^     The  man  who   is  ruining 
himself  with   some  besetting  sin,  who  sometimes  loathes, 
hates   and  despises  himself,  who,  but  for  the   fear  of  an 
hereafter,  would  put  an  end  to  his  miserable  existence,  what 
does  he  get  in  return  ?  Ah !  the  devil  pays   poor  wages ! 
But  just  ask   any  servant  of  the  Lord  and  he  will  tell  you 
that  the  Lord  is  a  good  paymaster.     Now  don't  fall  into 
the  erroi  of  supposing  that  you   can  deliver  yourself  from 
sin.     We  hear  some  talk  about  the  power  of  the  will,  assert- 
ing one's   manhood,  and  the  like.     Why,  Satan,  laughs  at 
that.     He  knows  he  is  more  than  a  match  for  you.     If 
man  could  deliver  himself  Christ  would  never  have  come. 
What  is  the  Bible's  testimony  :  "  I  was  born  in  sin  ;  I  was 
shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  hath  my  mother  conceived 
me,"  says  David.   Job  says,  "  I  am  vile."   Isaiah  exclaims, 
"  Woe  is  me  !  "  The  fact  is,  we  are  all  born  into  the  slavery 
of  sin  just  as  the  colored  people  of  the   South  were  born 
into  slavery  before  the  war.      [Mr.  Moody  referred  to  the 
way  in    which    the    negroes   of    Richmond    rejoiced    over 


398  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

emancipation,  with  shoutsof  "Glory  to  (^ocl  in  fhe  highest."] 
What  made  them  so  glad?  They  believed  they  were 
liberated,  and  that  is  what  made  them  so  joyful.  People 
want  to  know  why  Christians  are  so  joyful.  It  is  because 
they  have  been  delivered  from  Satan.  I  tell  you  no  slave 
in  all  the  Southern  States  ever  had  so  mean  a  master  as 
you  have,  and  you  have  great  reason  to  rejoice  that  Christ 
has  come  to  set  you  free,  and  every  one  of  you  ought  to 
rejoice  here  to-night  that  you  hear  the  good  news  that 
Christ  has  come  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captive,  to 
recover  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  those  that  are 
bound.  Jesus  has  come  to  open  the  prison  doors  and  let 
out  the  captive,  and  what  you  want  is  just  to  believe  it. 
Don't  trust  in  any  human  arm  ;  for  "  cursed  is  he  that 
trusteth  in  the  arm  of  flesh."  The  church  can't  save  you  ; 
all  the  churches  in  the  world —  Roman  Catholic,  Episcopal 
and  all  —  never  saved  a  man.  Look  away  to  Jesus  !  Look 
to  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith,  for  He  alone  can 
save. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  go  into  Richmond  with  General 
Grant's  army.  Now,  just  let  us  picture  a  scene.  There 
are  a  thousand  poor  captives,  and  they  are  lawful  captives, 
prisoners  in  Libby  Prison.  One  beautiful  day  in  the  spring 
they  are  there  in  the  prison.  All  news  has  been  kept 
from  them.  They  have  not  heard  what  has  been  going  on 
around  Richmond,  they  haven't  heard  of  Lee's  surrender, 
and  I  can  imagine  one  says  one  day.  "  Hark,  boys  !  hark  I  I 
hear  a  band  of  music,  and  it  sounds  as  if  they  were  playing, 

*  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  !  long  may  it  wave, 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ! ' 

And  by  and  by  the  sound  comes  nearer  and  they  see  it  is  so. 
It  is  the  Union  army,  the  boys  in  blue.  Next,  the  doors  of 
the  prison  are  unlocked  ;  they  fly  wide  open.  "  Boys,  you're 
free  ! "     is    their    comrades'    shout,    and    those    thousand 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     II.  3^9 

men  are  set  free.  Wasn't  that  good  news  to  them  ? 
But  it  wasn't  any  better  news  than  that  I  bring  to  you  to- 
night. 

What  a  shout  ought  to  go  up  from  the  hearts  of  the 
captives.  Mr.  Spurgeon  tells  this  parable,  one  that  he 
made  himself — and  I  don't  know  but  what  we  ought  to 
make  up  parables,  seeing  that  Christ  taught  in  parables. 
Mr.  Spurgeon  represented  a  tyrant  who  ordered  one  of  his 
subjects  into  his  presence  and  told  him  to  make  a  chain 
of  a  certain  length.  He  gave  him  no  length,  and  at  the 
end  of  a  certain  time  the  captive  brought  in  the  chain  when 
his  time  was  out.  The  tyrant  told  him  to  go  back  again 
and  make  it  twice  as  long.  He  came  back  the  third  time, 
and  again  the  tyrant  ordered  him  out,  and  told  him  to 
make  it  twice  as  long.  And  when  he  came  back  for  the 
fourth  time  the  tyrant  called  some  of  his  sei-vants  who 
stood  by  and  commanded  them  to  take  the  chain  and  bind 
him  hand  and  foot  and  cast  him  into  prison.  "  And,"  said 
the  preacher,  "  that  is  just  what  Satan  is  doing  with  some 
of  you  in  my  congregation  now,  and  by  and  by  he  is  going 
to  bind  you  with  the  chains  which  you  have  forged  yourself 
and  cast  you  into  hell."  You  that  are  drunkards,  you  that 
are  gamblers,  you  men  that  are  living  in  sin  with  your  eyes 
wide  open,  knowing  that  you  are  living  in  sin,  Satan  will 
bind  you  by  and  b}^,  and  he  will  laugh  at  you  and  torment 
you  when  you  are  bound  and  in  his  power.  You  may 
laugh  at  the  offer  of  mercy,  at  the  salvation  offered  you 
without  money  and  without  price  now,  but  when  he  has 
got  you  bound  hand  and  foot  in  the  chain  of  sin  he  will 
laugh  at  you.  We  have  been  taken  captives,  because  when 
a  man  has  sold  himself  to  the  power  of  sin  he  is  under  the 
power  0/  Satan.  How  are  we  going  to  get  away  t  We 
can't  get  ourselves  free.  The  3,000,000  of  slaves  that  we 
had  in  this  country  could  not  set  themselves  free.  They 
hadn't  the  power  to  free  themselves.     Their  masters  had 


400 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


that  power,  and  they  had  this  Government  behind  them. 
These  poor,  weak  slaves  couldn't  set  themselves  free.  They 
.-couldn't  get  out  of  bondage  into  liberty  by  their  own  power. 
God  had  to  come  and  deliver  them.  So  it  was  with  the 
children  of  Israel  down  there  in  Egypt.  God  had  to  come 
and  deliver  them,  and  so  it  is  with  us.  We  are  in  slavery. 
We  can't  deliver  ourselves.  We  want  some  power  outside 
of  ourselves.  I  have  no  hope  for  a  man  or  woman  being 
saved  until  they  have  given  up  all  hopes  of  themselves — 
all  hope  of  redeeming  themselves.  These  men  that  are 
trying  to  redeem  themselves  are  deceiving  themselves. 
Satan  is  deceiving  them.  Satan  has  got  them.  They 
haven't  got  the  power.  But  these  poor  captives  can  be  set 
free  if  they  will  just  believe  the  proclamation  issued  by 
Jesus  in  this  Bible.  When  1  was  coming  back  from  Europe, 
a  few  years  ago,  I  met  ex-Governor  Curtin  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  had  been  on  a  mission  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  was  just 
returning  home.  I  talked  with  him  considerably  about 
Russia,  and  was  much  interested  in  hearing  him  tell  about 
those  serfs  that  were  set  free.  When  we  had  3,000,000 
slaves,  they  had  40,000,000  serfs,  some  of  them  sold  for  a 
quarter  of  their  time,  some  of  them  for  a  half,  and  many  of 
them  out-and-out  serfs  for  life.  It  is  said  no  one  knows 
the  exact  truth  —  but  it  is  stated  upon  good  authority  that 
when  the  old  Emperor  died  he  made  the  young  Emperor 
promise  to  set  all  those  serfs  free.  We  don't  know  the 
exact  truth  about  it.  The  only  thing  we  do  know  is,  he 
was  commanded  to  set  them  free.  So  the  3^oung  Emperor 
called  the  Imperial  Council  together  and  said  :  "  I  want  to 
see  if  you  can  make  some  plan  by  which  we  can  set  these 
men  free."  They  were  the  proprietors  of  these  serfs,  and, 
of  course,  they  didn't  want  to  free  them.  The  Imperial 
Council  was  in  session  for  six  long  months,  and  one  even- 
ing they  sent  in  their  decision,  sealed,  that  it  was  not  right, 
and  "t  is  said  that  he  went  down  to  the   Greek  Church, 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     II.  401 

partook  of  the  sacrament  and  went  to  his  palace,  and  the 
next  morning  there  was  a  great  commotion  and  people 
could  not  understand  it.  Great  cannons  were  brought  up 
around  his  palace  and  in  a  little  while  65,000  soldiers  were 
gathered  around  the  royal  palace,  and  just  at  12  o'clock, 
at  midnight,  there  came  out  what  we  call  a  proclamation, 
but  what  they  call  an  ukase,  to  the  serfs  of  Russia,  that 
they  were  free  forever.  It  spread  thrcugh  the  empire  and 
a  shout  went  through  the  nation :  "  The  men  born  in 
slavery  are  set  free  !  "  They  had  found  one  that  had  set 
them  free.  Wasn't  that  good  news  ?  But  here  is  the  news 
of  the  gospel,  that  every  man  born  in  sin,  and  taken 
captive  by  Satan,  can  be  set  free  through  the  power  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  Christ  says,  "  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor  ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the 
broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and 
recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that 
are  bruised."  And  He  can  set  you  free  if  you  will  only 
come  to  Him.  I  can  imagine  some  of  you  saying,  "  I 
don't  feel  that  I  am  free."  How  are  you  going  to  feel  it?- 
Suppose  a  man  were  to  go  down  South  and  say  to  som«  of 
those  liberated  slaves,  '•  How  do  you  know  that  you  are 
free  ? "  And  suppose  he  says,  "  I  know  that  I  am  free  ;  I 
feel  that  I  am  free."  And  then  you  say,  "Well,  I  don't 
care  about  your  feelings :  I  will  make  you  my  slave ;  you 
just  come  to  work  for  me."  How  quick  that  man  would 
show  you  that  he  was  free.  He  had  got  Abraham's  proc- 
lamation, and  that  niade  him  free.  In  many  of  those  log 
cabins  in  the  South  tlie  negroes  have  got  that  proclamation 
nailed  up,  and  if  you  ask  one  of  them  how  he  knows  he  is 
free  he  just  reads  that  proclamation,  or  if  he  cannot  read 
he  just  points  you  to  that.  Abraham  Lincoln  had  the 
power  to  set  him  free,  and  he  did  it.  If  you  want  to  know 
that  you  are  a  free  man,  that  the  Lord  has  delivered  you, 

26 


402 


70  ALL  PEOPLE. 


take  His  Word  and  read    it  there.     What  does  he  say  ? 
Listen  : 

*'  He  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised." 

He  sent  Him  to  open  the  prison  doors,  and  you  can  all 
be  free  if  you  will.  If  you  are  bound  by  passion,  bound 
by  lust,  you  can  be  free.  There  isn't  any  one  but  He 
wants  him  to  be  free.  Lincoln  took  up  his  pen  and  he 
wrote  the  freedom  of  these  men.  They  had  not  the  power 
to  set  themselves  free,  but  he  had  the  power.  An  officei 
of  the  Union  army  w^as  riding  through  a  field  where  some 
negroes  were  hoeing.  And  he  cried  aloud,  "  In  the  name 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  I  proclaim  you  free."  They  believed 
him  at  once,  and  the  shout  went  up  from  them,  "  We  are 
free  !  "  "  We  are  free  !  "  Oh,  I  wish  I  could  make  every  one 
of  you  believe  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  as  they  believed 
these  words  !  If  you  will  only  accept  Him  He  will  do  this 
for  you.  He  wants  to  do  it.  He  wants  to  save  you. 
When  England  was  trying  to  set  her  slaves  free  upon  one 
of  her  far-off  islands,  and  Wilberforce  was  trying  to  get  a 
bill  through  Parliament  for  that  purpose,  you  can  imagine 
how  anxious  those  slaves  were  to  hear  the  news,  and  know 
whether  he  was  successful  or  not.  They  didn't  have  any 
Atlantic  cable  in  those  days,  and  so  the  communication 
was  not  very  close.  And  when  they  were  expecting  the; 
vessel  tliat  was  to  bring  the  news,  they  all,  as  many  of  them 
as  could,  crowded  down  to  the  shore,  eager  and  anxious  to 
get  the  first  news.  And  as  soon  as  the  vessel  got  in  sight, 
and  the  captain  saw  how  anxious  they  were,  he  could  not 
>vaitto  come  ashore,  but  he  called  out,  "  Free  !  free  !  free  !" 
Oh,  to-day,  God  will  set  you,  poor  captives,  free  !  He  pro- 
claims to  you  this  gospel  message,  "  Free  !  free  !  "  And 
He  will  save  you. 

Christ  came  not  only  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost,  but 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     II.  402 

to  deliver  men  from  bondage.  He  not  only  told  men  what 
they  ought  to  do,  but  gave  them  the  power  to  do  it.  Men 
are  captives  to  sin  ;  they  cannot  save  themselves ;  but 
let  them  acknowledge  this  and  come  to  God,  and  Christ 
will  make  them  free.  The  service  of  Christ  is  the  only 
true  liberty.  That  is  a  false  idea  which  many  have,  that  it 
is  freedom  to  sin  when  they  please.  The  bondage  to  Satan 
is  slavery  of  the  worst  kind.  No  black  man  in  the  South 
before  the  war  was  ever  held  in  such  bondage  as  the  slave 
of  passion,  of  hellish  lust  and  appetite.  And  a  good  many 
are  finding  this  out.  Some  of  them  get  discouraged.  We 
found  a  man  in  the  inquiry -room  this  afternoon  who  said 
he  had  no  hope  because  he  had  inherited  his  appetite. 
But  the  Son  of  God  came  to  deliver  just  such  captives. 
He  can  break  every  bond  of  sin,  and  save  from  death  and 
ruin.  "  Will  you  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  ?  "  says  God. 
He  that  created  the  universe  out  of  nothing,  shall  He  not 
have  power  to  create  a  new  heart  in  the  sinner  ?  Let  us  not 
limit  the  power  of  God.  Now  every  man  or  woman  within 
the  sound  of  my  voice  is  under  the  service  of  God  or  under 
the  bondage  of  Satan.  The  Prince  of  Darkness  rules  this 
world.  It's  an  uncomfortable  feeling  to  think  that  every  un- 
converted person  is  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit,  and  a  good 
many  say  it's  not  true ;  but  nevertheless  it's  just  what  this 
Word  teaches.  Men  may  measure  with  their  own  rule  ;  but 
bear  in  mind  that  God  looks  at  the  world  and  man  with  differ- 
ent eyes.  The  natural  man  is  in  bondage  to  sin.  Some  are 
slaves  to  themselves  —  bound  hand  and  foot  to  selfishness. 
Others  are  slaves  to  habit  and  appetite.  At  first,  they  laugh 
at  the  idea  of  not  controlling  their  appetite  ;  but  the  golden 
thread  becomes,  by  degrees,  a  cord,  then  a  strong  rope, 
and  finally  a  great  heavy  chain,  which  binds  the  captive 
hand  and  foot.  There  is  a  sin  of  which  many  of  you  are 
slaves,  a  sin  which  it  would  not  perhaps  be  proper  for  me 
to  speak  of  to-night,  but  which  you  know  well.     Many  a 


404  ^<^  ^^^  PEOPLE. 

man  has  it  bound  in  chains  and  taking  them  hell-ward 
about  as  fast  as  the  morning  light  travels.  But  Christ,  the 
great  deliverer,  can  save  you  and  make  you  a  new  man  ; 
He  can  take  away  your  besetting  sin  and  change  the 
whole  current  of  your  life,  so  that  you  shall  henceforth 
serve  the  Lord.  Bad  temper  is  a  besetting  sin  which  many 
know,  I  was  troubled  with  mine  a  good  many  years  ago, 
and  at  first  I  used  to  make  up  my  mind  that  I  would  stop 
it  myself,  but  the  very  days  that  I  set  a  watch  against  my 
temper  it  seemed  to  be  worst  of  all.  But  Christ  can  give 
you  strength  to  keep  your  temper,  and,  instead  of  trouble 
between  friends,  and  hard  feelings  called  up  by  hasty 
words,  there  will  be  sunshine  all  '  the  while.  Some 
business  men  are  troubled  with  —  well,  perhaps  I  had 
better  call  it  by  the  good  old  Saxon  name  of  lying ; 
but  they  would  rather  call  it  "  misrepresentation."  They 
say  that  they  are  afraid  they  couldn't  be  successful  as 
business  men  unless  they  misrepresent  to  their  customers* 
Now  I  want  to  say  right  here  that  this  idea  is  one  of  the 
devil's  lies.  You  and  I  know  that  the  man  of  integrity,  on 
whose  word  we  can  rely,  is  the  successful  man,  looking  at 
his  whole  life.  But  suppose  that  it  was  true  that,  in  a 
worldly  sense,  a  man  might  be  successful  by  lying.  "What 
shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul?"  Poor,  deluded  man,  he  would  see  his 
folly  when  too  late.  Now  you,  young  man,  and  you,  young- 
woman — pointing  to  persons  in  the  audience — you  have 
got  some  besetting  sin.  I  don't  know  what  it  is,  but  you 
know.  Now  won't  you  just  carry  it  to  God  .''  You  needn't 
cry  out  as  loud  as  I  am  talking ;  a  whisper,  a  sigh  even, 
will  reach  God's  ear.  Young  man,  won't  you  pray  —  so 
low  that  the  young  lady  at  your  side  can't  hear  you  1  Say- 
ing, "  O  Lord,  deliver  me  from  my  sin  !  "  And  if  you  are 
terribly  in  earnest  about  it,  He  will  deliver  you  from  your 
captivity. 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     11. 


405 


You  may  be  far  in  sin — will-power  may  be  all  gone, 
but  if  you  will  just  cry  to  God  He  will  come  down  right 
where  you  are  and  He  will  deliver  you. 

There  is  no  soul  that  the  Lord  God  cannot  heal.  In 
this  50th  chapter  of  Isaiah  and  the  2d  verse  : 

"  Wherefore,  when  I  came,  there  was  no  man  ?  when  1 
called  was  there  none  to  answer.  Is  my  hand  shortened 
at  all,  {hat  it  cannot  redeem  ?  or  have  I  no  power  to  de- 
liver ?  Behold,  at  my  rebuke  I  dry  up  the  sea,  I  make 
the  rivers  a  wilderness  :  their  fish  stinketh,  because  there  is 
no  water,  and  dieth  for  thirst." 

"  Is  my  hand  shortened  ?  "  God  can  reach  clear  down 
for  you.  He  can  get  at  the  very  pit  of  hell.  "  Have  I  no 
power  ? "  I  like  that.  God  asks  the  question  to  men. 
Oh,  men,  do  you  want  to  be  delivered  ?  Christ  came  for 
that  very  purpose.  "  Behold,  at  my  rebuke  I  dry  up  the 
sea,  I  make  the  rivers  a  wilderness  :  their  fish  stinketh,  be- 
cause there  is  no  water,  and  dieth  for  thirst."  There  is 
no  limit  to  God's  power.  That  is  the  great  mistake  with 
men  ;  they  are  always  limiting  God's  power  by  their  own. 
They  have  been  saying,  "  Because  man  has  not  the  power 
God  has  not."  He  can  liberate  you ;  and  if  you  will  only 
take  Christ  as  your  Redeemer  He  will  do  it.  That  is 
what  He  wants  to  do.  If  you  are  in  trouble,  if  you  are  in 
sin,  probably  a  hundred  times  you  have  said  you  would 
not  do  this  or  you  would  not  do  that  again.  You  have 
made  good  resolutions,  you  have  determined  to  change, 
and  you  have  broken  these  resolutions  and  you 
have  fallen  back  again.  You  say,  "  It  is  no  use, 
I  have  been  trying  and  trying  and  trying,  and  I  know  that 
there  isn't  any  hope  for  me."  There  is  hope  for  you,  God 
will  do  it  for  you.  He  will  save  you.  He  wants  you  to 
be  done  trying.  He  wants  you  to  stop  trying  to  save 
yourself.  I  read  of  the  great  disaster  in  the  Southern 
Hotel.  Well  those  people  in  that  hotel  could  not  save 
themselves.      They  could  not  deliver    themselves.      The 


4o6  'TO  ALL  PEOPLE 

deliverance  must  come  from  God.  If  you  could  have  put 
up  a  fire  escape  there  they  would  have  been  saved.  God 
has  brought  a  fire  escape  to  every  soul,  and  they  can  be 
delivered  this  very  hour  if  they  will  only  trust  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  do  it.  A  man  came  to  me  often  in  the  in- 
quiry-room, and  he  said,  "  I  want  to  come  to  Christ."  One 
night  he  came  into  the  inquiry-room,  and  the  gi'eat  tears 
were  trickling  down  his  cheeks,  and  he  said,  "  If  I  don't 
get  light  to-night  I  don't  know  what  I  shall  do."  And  I 
said,  "  All  you  have  got  to  do  is  to  go  to  Him.  He 
says,  '  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,  if  men  will  only  follow 
me  they  shall  not  walk  in  darkness."  But  he  said,  "  I 
cannot  break  my  chains."  "  Never  mind  your  chains, 
brins:  them  with  you.  God  came  to  break  chains."  A 
new  light  broke  in  on  him  and  he  said,  '*  Why,  so  I  can." 
God  bids  you  to  come.  If  your  soul  is  in  prison  to-day, 
just  start  praying  "  God  deliver  me."  Ask  Him,  and  see 
how  quick  He  will  deliver  you.  You  hear  a  good  many 
people  say,  "  If  I  go  to  church,  I  will  be  saved."  And 
then  they  go  right  off  and  join  some  church  and  think  they 
are  saved.  All  the  churches  in  Christendom  cannot  save 
you  ;  all  the  ministers  in  the  world  cannot  save  one  soul.  It 
isn't  doing  this  or  doing  that  that  will  save  you,  it  is  just 
simply  keeping  quiet  and  letting  Christ  save  you.  Don't 
join  a  church  to  be  saved  ;  join  it  when  you  are  saved.  Look 
to  Jesus  ;  He  is  the  author  and  the  finisher,  and  you  need 
not  look  anywhere  else.  I  never  knew  a  man  but  that  if^ 
he  asked  God  for  anything  he  got  it.  And  so  to-day  if 
you  bring  your  sins  to  Christ,  ask  Him  to  deliver  you,  ask 
Him  to  give  you  victory,  He  will  do  it.  That  is  what  He 
wants  to  do  upon  this  Fast  Day.  That  is  the  kind  of  fast 
He  likes.  Do  you  w^ant  deliverance  to-day  ?  If  you  do, 
here  is  the  proclamation.  "  God  sent  me  to  preach  de- 
liverance." There  were  many  in  that  prison,  down  there 
in  Jerusalem.     There  was  Barabbas.     He  was  no  common 


CHRIST  THE  DELIVERER.     II. 


407 


thief.  They  didn't  execute  common  thieves  in  those  days. 
They  had  a  different  kind  of  punishment  for  them.  He 
was  a  notorious  prisoner.  He  was  very  bad  and  he  had 
been  condemned  to  die  the  death  upon  the  cross.  The 
morning  arrived  when  he  was  taken  out  and  crucified  upon 
Calvary.  If  he  had  had  a  wife,  she  would  have  gone  there, 
and  she  would  have  bid  him  good-by  and  kissed  him. 
There  was  no  arm  to  deliver  that  poor  condemned  man. 
I  can  see  him.  He  has  not  had  any  breakfast ;  he  has 
eaten  very  little  for  the  last  few  days.  He  has  not  slept 
very  much  during  the  past  week.  He  is  listening  for  the 
coming  of  the  executioner  to  take  him  to  Calvary 
to  be  crucified.  He  had  heard,  no  doubt,  of  Jesus, 
and  he  had  been  told  that  He  was  to  be  crucified 
with  him  ;  that  He,  too,  was  to  be  put  to  death.  Now,  at 
last,  the  day  comes.  See  him?  He  is  trembling  from 
head  to  foot.  He  can  hear  a  footfall.  "  That  is  the  execu- 
tioner," he  says,  "  he  is  coming  to  take  me  to  the  place  of  ex- 
ecution." But  the  executioner  enters,  and  he  wonders  that 
he  does  not  seize  him  and  bind  him  and  take  him  away  to  be 
executed.  But  instead  of  doing  this  he  cries  out  to  him. 
"  You  are  free  !  "  "What,  am  I  free  t  "  "  Yes,  Jesus  is  to  die 
in  your  place  ;  you  are  to  go  free."  What  good  news  that 
must  hav  e  been  to  him  !  If  you  are  to-day  condemned  by 
some  sin,  and  your  soul  is  in  some  dark  prison,  remember 
that  Jesus  died  in  your  place.  I  proclaim  to  you  in  His 
name,  liberty  to  every  captive  that  wants  to  get  liberty,  if 
you  will  take  Him.  He  is  yours  to-day,  and  you  can  go 
out  of  this  Tabernacle  in  the  light  of  Heaven.  Let  us 
pray. 


BLIND  EYES. 


We  have  come  to-night  to  the  best  clause  of  the  verse 
we  have  been  speaking  about,  of  regeneration  and  healing 
of  broken  hearts  and  giving  deliverance  to  the  captives, 
and  now  w^e  come  to  giving  sight  to  the  blind.  A  friend 
of  mine  was  telling  me  that  he  did  not  know  that  there  was 
so  much  in  this  verse  until  recently.  We  have  been  talk- 
ing a  good  deal  about  this,  but  it  would  take  a  good  many- 
more  meetings  to  tell  what  there  is  in  this  verse.  One 
night  we  spoke  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor  ;  an- 
other night  of  healing  the  broken-hearted,  and  another 
night  of  giving  delivery  to  the  captive  ;  and  to-night  it  is 
of  giving  sight  to  the  blind.  Satan,  breaks  men's  hearts. 
Satan  binds  men ;  he  blinds  them  ;  but  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  comes  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  deliver  the 
captive,  and  to  give  sight  to  the  blind,  and  that  is  the  dif- 
ference between  Satan's  work  and  the  work  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  There  is  no  class  of  people  that  receive  so  much 
from  Christ  as  the  blind.  We  are  constantly  reading  of 
His  giving  sight  to  the  blind.  There  is  not  one  solitary 
blind  man  that  asked  for  sight  and  cried  for  mercy  but 
that  he  got  it.  It  is  so  to-day.  If  men  really  want  it  they 
can  have  it.  I  have  yet  to  find  the  first  man  or  woman 
that  wanted  sight  with  all  the  heart  but  that  got  it.  "  Christ 
lighteth  with  life  every  man  that  cometh  to  the  Lord."  "I 
am  the  light  of  the  world  ;  if  any  man  follow  Me  he  shall 
not  walk  in  darkness."  I  consider  that  there  is  no  gi'eater 
affliction  than  natural  blindness,  but  spiritual  blindness  is 
a  good  deal  worse.     If  I  know  mine  own  heart,  I  would 

rather  have   natural  blindness  than  be  blinded  spiritually 

408 


BUND  EYES.  409 

and  go  down  to-day  without  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
There  are  many  that  are  bHnded  and  don't  know  it.  In 
the  3d  chapter  of  Revelations  and  the  17th  verse  it  says  : 

"  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  increased  with 
goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing  ;  and  knowest  not  that 
thou  art  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and 
naked  ;  " 

There  are  many  that  think  they  are  rich  and  have  sight 
that  are  poor  and  blind.  We  are  coming  into  contact  with 
them  that  don't  know  right  from  left ;  that  are  satisfied 
without  regeneration,  without  conversion  ;  that  are  satis- 
fied in  their  blindness.  Oh,  that  God  may  open  their  blind- 
ed eyes,  that  the  eyes  of  their  souls  may  be  opened  to  see 
as  God  would  have  us  see — as  we  shall  see  in  the  light  of 
eternity  !  I  remember,  when  I  was  in  London,  a  few  years 
ago,  hearing  a  good  doctor  addressing  the  audience.  And 
I  found  that  he  was  permanently  blind.  The  whole  audience 
was  in  tears  when  he  told  them  how  his  mother  took  him 
to  a  doctor,  and  the  doctor  pronounced  him  blind  for  life. 
That  mother  pressed  him  to  her  bosom  and  cried,  "  Is  it 
possible  that  my  boy  is  going  through  the  world  blind  ? 
When  I  am  gone  who  is  there  to  care  for  him  ?  "  Little 
did  that  mother  know  how  God  was  going  to  take  care  of 
him.  And  I  heard  that  man  say,  "I  thank  God  for  my 
blindness.  I  have  been  enabled  to  put  the  Bible  into 
seventy-two  different  languages.  If  I  had  sight  it  might 
not  have  been  done  in  my  day."  There  was  a  blind  man 
rejoicing  that  God  had  taken  his  sight  away  from  him. 
God  has  got  grace  enough  for  these  men  to  make  them  re- 
joice in  their  blindness.  How  much  of  spiritual  blindness 
there  is  in  this  city  ;  men  who  are  talking  against  God, 
who  is  trying  to  save  them.  Satan  has  blinded  men. 
How  many  he  has  blinded  in  this  audience.  Your  hearts 
are  turning  away  from  God,  and  you  say  you  don't  see  any 
beauty  in  Christ.     I  think  to-night  I  would  like  to  take  up 


4IO 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


the  blind  men  in  Boston.  They  are  not  all  in  the  asylums 
Many  of  them  are  walking  up  and  down  our  streets. 
There  are  many  close,  shrewd,  keen  men,  we  call  them ; 
how  the  god  of  this  world  has  blinded  them.  He  blinds 
some  men  with  money.  All  he  wants  is  just  to  keep  them 
blind.  Many  men  that  are  in  high  positions,  that  are  in 
great  standing  in  the  community,  are  blind,  spiritually 
blind.  I  heard,  some  time  ago,  of  a  man  who  said  he 
"  was  bound  to  die  rich."  That  was  his  aim  in  life  and  he 
used  to  say,  "  I  am  bound  to  die  rich."  What  blindness  ! 
The  moment  a  man  dies  he  is  a  pauper,  isn't  he  ?  He  can- 
not take  a  penny  away  with  him.  Men  die  worth  nothing. 
When  death  lays  his  hands  upon  him  wealth  goes. 
**  Money,  money,  money!"  was  this  man's  ciy,  until  his 
mind  became  unhinged.  He  thought  of  nothing  but  money. 
And  at  last  he  was  taken  to  a  mad-house,  and  he  cried  out. 
"  Sixty  years  making  millions  of  money  and  in  a  mad-house." 
There  are  a  great  many  who  are  not  in  a  mad-house,  but 
.ive  as  madmen..  The  god  of  this  world  has  blinded  them. 
You  need  not  look  for  men  led  about  by  a  boy,  but  in 
every  dwelling  in  this  city,  wherever  a  man  puts  money  be- 
fore God,  he  is  blind.  Whoever  has  his  heart  and  affection 
put  upon  wealth  down  here,  he  is  blind.  But  business  men 
are  blinded  by  their  business.  Talk  about  their  soul's  salva- 
tion to  them,  and  they  say  business  must  be  attended  to 
first.  "  I  must  be  successful  in  business.  I  have  strong 
rivals,  and  I  don't  want  any  other  man  to  excel  me."  They 
have  not  time  to  ask  God's  blessing  upon  their  children, 
or  to  surrender  themselves  by  prayer.  They  have  not  time 
for  God  on  account  of  press  of  business.  Those  men  are 
bhnded  by  business.  When  I  was  in  New  York  last  win- 
ter one  of  those  merchant  princes  died.  I  was  told  by 
some  friend  that  when  he  was  dying,  they  had  a  spring 
opening,  and  he  was  told  that  it  was  the  grandest  that  he 
had  ever  had.     And  he  was  accustomed  when  anything 


BLIND  EYES.  411 

pleased  him  to  rub  his  hands  together.  And  so  now  he 
rubbed  his  hands  and  said,  "  That  was  good."  The  god 
of  this  world  had  blinded  him.  Not  that  business  is  not 
good  enough  in  its  place.  Many  of  you  are  looking  down 
upon  the  poor  drunkard,  but  if  Satan  has  blinded  you 
through  business,  he  has  got  you  just  as  much  as  he  has 
the  drunkard.  He  don't  care  how  you  go  to  hell.  Any 
way  to  get  you  there.  There  is  another  way  of  blinding 
men  by  pleasure.  All  they  care  about  is  spending  money 
and  having  a  good  time.  Their  fathers  gathered  it  and 
they  scatter  it.  "Give  me  pleasure,"  they  say.  The  god 
of  the  world  has  blinded  them  in  that  way.  They  would 
rather  be  in  the  theatre,  in  the  wine-room,  in  the  billiard 
halls.  They  would  rather  go  out  Sunda3's  and  drive  fast 
horses  and  live  for  this  world  than  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 
They  would  laugh  at  you  if  you  were  to  speak  of  Christ. 
Tiiey  would  mock  and  make  light  of  this  sermon.  They 
think  their  eyes  are  wide  open,  but  they  are  under  the 
power  of  Satan.  You  say  there  is  a  devil,  do  you  ?  Have 
you  not  heard  that  some  of  our  learned  men  have  proved 
there  is  no  devil  ?  He  has  got  them  so  blinded  that  they 
do  not  believe  that  there  is  any  devil  or  any  God  either; 
that  when  they  die  they  die  like  dogs,  die  soul  and  body. 
"  Let  us  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we  shall 
be  gone."  Thank  God  for  this  text  "  He  came  to  open 
men's  eyes."  When  men  begin  to  love  God,  how  small  these 
things  look.  He  will  begin  to  love  God  and  Christianity. 
These  things  of  the  world  do  not  then  occupy  their  thoughts 
and  time.  There  is  another  thing  that  is  blinding  some  of 
you  ladies,  but  there  is  not  many  of  them  that  come  here 
' — that  is  fashion.  It  is  amazing  to  hear  them  talk.  Let 
some  of  them  come  together,  it  is  fashion,  fashion,  fashion  ; 
they  talk  of  nothing  else.  That  is  their  god.  The  god  of 
this  world  has  blinded  them  just  by  fashion.  Some  time 
ago  one  of  these  ladies  cara-^  into  the  inquiry-room,  and 


412  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

she  was  dressed  up  to  the  height  of  fashion,  and  after  we 
had  been  talking  she  said  :  "I  might  as  well  be  frank  with 
you,  Mr.  Moody  ;  I  am  just  nothing  but  a  dressed-up  doll. 
I  dress  up  in  the  morning  and  I  dress  up  again  in  the 
afternoon  to  receive  company,  and  I  dress  up  again  for  the 
evening.  I  have  lived  that  way  for  years,  and  my  life  is  a 
"miserable  failure."  Another  lady  told  me  that  she  had  not 
assurance.  I  looked  at  her  hands.  She  had  fourteen  dia- 
mond rings  upon  them  and  yet  she  had  not  assurance. 
That  is  the  trouble  with  a  great  many.  The  god  of  the 
world  has  blinded  them  by  fashion  or  some  of  these  things. 
Where  your  treasure  is,  there  is  where  your  heart  is.  If 
your  treasure  is  here,  your  heart  and  your  affections  will 
be  down  here.  There  are  a  great  many  other  men  that  are 
blinded  by  sin.  They  have  an  idea  that  sin  is  very  sweet. 
A  man  told  me  that  he  did  not  want  to  become  a  Christian, 
because  he  did  not  want  to  give  up  a  certain  sin.  He  said 
"  I  like  it."  He  was  not  willing  to  just  give  up  that  sin 
for  Christ.  What  blindness  that  is.  "  Be  not  deceived  ; 
what  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  reap."  They  forget  that 
they  have  to  reap  by  and  by.  A  day  of  reckoning  is  com- 
ing. You  make  light  of  sin  ;  bear  in  mind  that  by  and  by 
the  reaping-time  will  come  and  sin  won't  seem  quite  so 
sweet  then.  I  may  be  speaking  to  a  man  that  is  just  living 
in  sin.  His  conscience  has  smote  him,  he  feels  that  he  is 
ruined,  but  he  is  going  right  on.  Perhaps  I  am  talking  to 
some  young  man  who  has  just  commenced  to  take  money 
from  his  employer,  that  don't  belong  to  him.  If  you  are 
receiving  $1000  a  3^ear,  audit  costs  you  $2500  to  live,  look 
well,  there  is  a  time  of  reckoning  coming,  and  you  will  have 
to  give  account  of  that  very  thing.  One  day  in  the  inquiry- 
room  a  man  about  my  age  came  to  me  and  he  said  he 
wanted  to  see  me  alone.  I  took  him  one  side  and  he  told 
me  a  story  that  would  make  almost  any  man  weep.  He  was 
in  a  good  position — a  leading  business  man  of  the  commu* 


BLIND  EYES. 


413 


nity.  He  had  a  beautiful  wife  and  children.  He  was 
ambitious  to  get  rich  fast,  and  in  an  unregarded  moment  he 
forged  ;  and  in  order  to  cover  up  that  act  he  had  commit- 
[ted  other  guilty  acts,  and  he  had  fled.  He  was  a  fugitive 
from  justice,  and  he  said  :  "  I  am  now  in  the  torments  of 
hell.  Here  I  am,  away  from  my  family.  A  reward  has 
been  offered  for  me  in  my  city.  Do  you  think  I  ought  to 
go  back  1 "  I  said  "  I  don't  know.  You  had  better  go  to 
God  and  ask  Him  about  it.  I  would  not  like  to  give  vou 
advice."     You  could  hear  him  sob  all  over  that  church. 

He  said  "  I  will  go  to  my  room  and  I  will  come  and 
see  you  next  day  at  12  o'clock."  The  next  day  he  came 
to  me  and  he  said  "  J.  do  not  belong  to  myself,  I  belong  to 
the  law.  I  have  got  to  go  and  give  myself  up.  I  do  not 
care  for  myself,  but  it  will  disgrace  my  family,  but  if  I  don't 
I  am  afraid  I  will  lose  my  soul."  This  day  I  got  a  letter 
from  him.  I  think  I  would  like  to  read  it  to  you.  I  told 
some  people  here  of  it  to-day  and  they  said,  "  You  ought 
to  take  it  to  Charlestown  and  read  it  to  the  convicts  in  the 
3tate  Prison."  But  I  thought  I  had  better  read  it  before  I 
got  there.  It  may  keep  some  man  here  from  getting  there. 
Some  one  here  may  have  just  commenced.  He  may  to- 
morrow commit  a  forgery  and  bring  sorrow  and  gloom  upon 
his  loved  ones.  It  was  only  three  days  ago  that  I  got  a 
letter  from  a  wife  and  mother  asking  me  to  see  her  husband. 
He  had  committed  forgery.  The  officers  came  that  night 
and  took  him.  It  was  a  terrible  shock  to  that  wife.  He 
was  a  kind  husband.  That  mother  and  children  are  pray- 
ing every  night  that  their  dear  father  may  get  out  of  prison. 
Let  us  lift  up  our  hearts  that  this  man  may  see  that  sin  is 
a  bitter  thing.      But  let  me  read  the  letter : 

Jefferson  City,  Mo.,  April  8,  1877. 
Mr.  Moody  : 

Dear  Brother  :  When  I  bade  you  good-by  in  the 
lower  room  in   Farwell  Hall  you   said  :  "  When  it  is  all 


414 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


over,  write  me."  I  wrote  you  in  December.  I  thought  then 
that  it  would  soon  be  over.  [Let  me  say  right  here  that 
that  letter  which  came  in  December  drew  a  picture  that 
has  followed  me  all  these  days.  He  said  he  went  to  his 
home.  The  trial  was  to  come  off  in  another  county.  He 
wanted  to  see  his  wife,  and  he  went  to  his  home.  He  did 
not  want  his  children  to  know  that  he  was  at  home  because 
it  might  get  out  among  the  neighbors,  and  he  wanted  to 
give  himself  up  and  not  be  arrested.  Then,  after  his  wife 
had  put  the  children  to  bed,  he  would  steal  into  the  room, 
but  he  could  not  speak  to  them  or  kiss  them.  Fathers, 
was  not  that  pretty  hard  ?  Would  not  that  be  pretty  hard  ? 
You  tell  me  sin  is  sweet !  There  are  men  with  their  eyes 
wide  open  ;  no,  not  with  their  eyes  wide  open  ;  they  must 
be  closed  wlien  men  say  that  sin  is  sweet.  There  is  that 
man,  that  loved  his  children  as  you  love  yours,  and  he  did 
not  dare  to  speak  to  them.]  "I  wrote  you  in  December, 
thinking  all  would  be  soon  over,  but  the  State  was  not 
ready  to  try  me,  and  so  I  was  let  out  upon  bail  till  April. 
Yesterday  my  case  was  disposed  of  and  I  received  sentence 
for  nineteen  years."  [Oh,  how  sad!  How  bitter  sin  is.  May 
God  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind  to-night.  Christians  always 
pray  that  God  may  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind.  Christ  came 
for  the  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind.  I  hope  every  sinner 
will  get  his  eyes  open  and  see  that  sin  is  bitter,  not  sweet. 
The  time  is  coming  when  you  have  got  to  leave  this  earth.] 
"  Now  I  am  in  my  prison  cell,  clothed  in  a  convict's  garb. 
It  is  all  over  with  me.  A  long  term  of  civil  death  and 
absence."  [Then  there  is  a  long  dash.  I  suppose  he 
could  not  pen  it.  Away  from  that  wife  and  little  child.] 
"  Now  I  have  met  the  law.  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  be 
sustained  with  consoling  and  needed  strength.  Pray  for 
the  loved  ones  at  home  ;  my  dear  parents  and   brothers 

and  sisters,  and  my  dear  wife  and  children "  another 

long  dash.     "  And  I  ask  that   the   attorney   that  was  very 


BLIND  EYES.  415 

kind  ro  me  may  be  prayed  for,  that  he  may  become  a 
Christian.  And  if  not  asking  too  much,  a  few  words  will 
be  gratefully  received.  Address  me  in  care  of  penitentiary 
in  Jefferson  City,  Mo.  I  pray  that  your  labors  may  be 
blessed,  and  when  you  preach  warn  men  to  beware  of  the 
temptation  of  doing  evil  that  good  may  come  of  it ;  warn 
them  to  beware  of  the  ambition  for  wealth.  Prayerfully 
and  tearfully  yours." 

Yet  we  have  men  tell  us  that  they  will  not  give  up  sin. 
I  wish  I  could  say  something  here  that  would  open  the 
eyes  of  every  man  and  woman  in  this  assembly.  I  have 
not  finished  the  sermon,  but  I  cannot  go  on  longer  Let 
us  pray. 


THE  NEW  BIRTH. 


I  WILL  take   as  my  text  the  3d  chapter  of  John  and  3d 
verse. 

There  was  a  lady  came  into  the  inquiry-room  and 
wanted  me  to  tell  her  if  she  were  a  Christian.  I  said  I 
would  be  very  happy  to  tell  her  if  I  knew,  but  I  did  not 
know.  I  would  like  to  have  had  time  to  tell  her  how  she 
might  know,  for  the  Scripture  is  very  plain  about  it  and  is 
not  dark  concerning  it.  I  want  to  call  your  attention 
this  afternoon  to  nine  new  things  that  we  are  promised, 
and  that  are  tests  of  whether  or  not  we  are  Christians. 
Now  here  we  have  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  shall 
not  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Born  again,  born 
from  above,  born  of  the  Spirit.  Now  this  is  not  the  worklj 
of  man.  God  is  the  author  of  life,  and  no  earthly  changey, 
or  condition  will  answer  for  this  new  birth.  A  great  many 
people  that  we  meet  in  the  inquiry-toom  tell  us  tliat  this 
is  a  great  mystery.  Well,  it  is  a  great  mystery.  We  will 
admit  that  it  is  a  great  mystery  ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  is 
one  of  the  most  important  truths  in  the  whole  Word  of 
God.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  are  some  in  this  assembly 
that  have  seen  some  one  that  has  been  born  again,  and 
they  know  that  they  seemed  different.  It  was  not  going 
to  confession ;  it  was  not  being  confirmed  some  Easter 
morning ;  it  was  not  going  to  the  Lord's  table  and  partak- 
ing communion  ;  it  was  not  by  being  baptized  ;  but  it  was 
a  new  birth,  a  new  life  in  Christ.  Profession  is  one  thing,!) 
conversion   is  another.     A  leper  may  conceal  his   leprosyll 

and  be  a  leper  still.     A  beggar  may  get  himself  into  a  new 

416 


THE  NEW  BIRTH. 


417 


suit  of  clothes,  and  yet  he  would  still  be  a  beggar.  Now, 
here  in  the  ist  epistle  of  John,  and  the  5  th  chapter,  and 
the  4th  verse,  we  are  told  what  will  happen  if  we  are  born 
of  God : 

"  For  whatsoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world  : 
and  this  is  tlie  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our 
faith. 

"  Who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but  he  thar 
beiieveth  tliat  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  t " 

If  we  "  overcome  the  world,"  that  is  a  sign  of  conver- 
sion ;  that  is  a  sign  that  we  have  been  born  again.  But  if 
we  are  all  the  time  striving  and  struggling,  that  is  a  sign 
that  we  have  not  been  "born  again."  In  the  6th  of  Gala- 
tians  and  the  15th  verse,  it  says  : 

"  For  in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  a^y-// 
thing,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature."  / 

Forms  and  ordinances  are  all  very  good,  but  they  do 
not  make  a  preacher.  If  we  are  born  of  God,  then  we 
have  the  power  and  will  to  overcome  the  world.  There 
are  a  great  many  people  that  the  moment  we  speak  of 
regeneration  say  :  "  These  people  can  tell  the  very  hour 
and  th^  very  minute  that  God  met  them.  Now,  I  cannot 
point  back  to  the  day  that  God  met  me  and  to  the  time 
when  the  old  things  passed  away."  And  they  are  in 
trouble  and  think  because  they  cannot  do  this  that  they 
are  not  Christians.  Now,  let  me  say  that  it  is  of  little 
account  where  or  how  it  took  place,  if  you  only  are  con- 
verted. Some  people  have  been  converted  like  the  flash 
of  a  meteor  and  otliers  like  the  rising  sun,  gradually.  But  f 
if  you  have  the  evidences  ;  if  you  have  the  fruits  of  the 
spirit,  then  you  are  children  of  God.  It  is  not  necessary/ 
that  we  should  be  able  to  tell  where  or  how  we  have  been 
converted,  but  it  is  important  that  we  should  be  able  to 
tell  that  we  are  converted.     Christ  says  :  "  Except  a  man 

become  as  a  little  child  he   shall  not  see  the  Kingdom  of 

27 


41 S  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

God."  We  have  got  to  become  little  children  of  God. 
"  Except  ye  repent."  He  says :  "  Except  ye  be  born 
again."  It  is  very  important  that  we  search  the  Scriptures. 
The  next  thing  that  we  get  is  a  "  new  creature."  In  the 
5th  chapter  and  17th  verse  of  the  2d  Corinthians  it  says : 

"  Therefore  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  crea- 
ture :  old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  are 
become  new." 

There  was  a  man  converted  when  we  were  in  Ne^v 
York.  He  was  an  Italian  ;  no,  I  should  say  a  Frenchman 
—  a  Canadian  Frenchman.  He  had  been  a  great  drunkard. 
He  had  been  brought  up  to  drink  from  a  child,  and  he 
never  saw  any  great  harm  in  it  until  he  had  drank  away 
all  his  family  from  him.  He  was  converted,  and  he  said 
that  "  the  moment  he  asked  God  to  take  away  this  terrible 
appetite  from  him  He  did  it."  He  knelt  down  to  pray, 
and  when  he  rose  up  he  felt  like  a  new  man  ;  he  said  he 
"felt  like  a  new  man  in  his  old  clothes."  He  had  con- 
quered his  appetite  and  held  right  on.  He  wrote  me  the 
other  day  to  tell  me  that  his  appetite  had  all  gone.  That 
is  just  what  the  new  birth  does.  It  not  only  takes  away 
the  sin  but  it  takes  away  the  desire  and  gives  you  victory. 
There  was  a  lady  converted  in  Scotland,  not  in  our  place 
of  worship,  but  in  one  of  the  churches  there,  and  she  said 
that  when  she  got  out  of  the  church  she  had  to  stop  to 
drink  in  the  pure  Scottish  air.  It  never  seemed  half  so 
sweet  before.  Everything  seemed  to  have  changed  to  her. 
Ah  !  the  Lord  had  blessed  her  and  she  had  become  a  child 
of  grace.  We  cannot  receive  the  spiritual  blessings  that 
God  wants  us  to  have  until  we  are  born  of  the  Spirit.  In 
the  ist  of  Corinthians,  2d  chapter  and  14th  verse : 

"  But  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  :  -for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither 
can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 

Now,   nearly  every  week  I  find   that  literally  fulfilled. 


TFTE  NEW  BIRTB. 


419 


People  say  of  these  words,  "  I  don't  i.nderstand  them." 
Well,  of  course  you  don't,  for  you  have  not  been 
born  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  can  tell  them  when  I 
am  preaching  and  know  that  they  don't  understand  a 
word  that  I  am  saying.  "  I  can't  tell  you  about  this 
new  birth ;  no  living  man  can  ;  you  must  feel  it.  As  I 
told  you  a  few  nights  ago,  that  if  you  took  a  man  right 
from  the  dirtiest  streets  of  Boston  and  placed  him  in 
the  CH'stal  streets  of  heaven  he  wouldn't  want  to  stay  there 
long  j  he  would  immediately  become  home-sick.  In  such 
a  place  he  would  be  a  natural  man,  and  a  natural  man 
who  can't  find  any  whiskey  or  anything  of  a  worldly 
character  in  heaven  wants  to  get  out  of  that  beautiful  place 
as  soon  as  possible.  If  you  men  here  to-night  know  what 
the  old  nature  really  is,  if  you  know  what  God  wants  you 
to  do,  then  He  will  very  easily  find  a  place  for  you.  Why, 
my  friends,  I  have  had  as  much  trouble  with  old  Moody 
as  any  of  you  ever  experienced  with  yourselves,  but  I 
don't  have  any  trouble  with  the  new  Moody,  now  that  I 
have  found  Christ.  I  went  during  the  war,  over  a  railroad, 
and  what  do  you  think  I  saw  at  every  step  ?  Why,  I  saw 
nothing  but  wrecks.  So,  if  we  search,  we  come  across 
wrecks  in  families,  and  we  never  seem  to  be  mindful,  as 
we  always  should  be  that  the  devil  is  constantly  tempting 
the  weak.  Now,  I  must  say  to  you  my  friends,  that  the 
devil  is  always  found  in  this  broad  way.  You  never  know 
this  evil  one  to  be  found  in  the  narrow  way.  Then  again 
the  devil  is  always  giving  free  lunches,  just  because  he 
wants  to  tempt  you.  You  who  are  weak  accept  them  be- 
cause they  are  free,  because  no  money  is  required  to  pay 
for  them.  Yes,  my  friends,  the  broad  way  is  very  hard. 
My  friends,  own  that  it  leads  to  destruction.  I  tell  you 
when  any  of  you  begin  to  lie  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  you  have 
no  Spirit  of  God  in  you.  I  tell  you  if  a  man  is  once  con- 
verted he  will  not  lie,  but  will  find  infinite  pleasure  in  sing- 


420 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


ing  the  praises  of  God.  The  song  of  the  drunkard  \\on't 
do  when  you  are  once  converted.  I  don't  know  how  it  is 
with  you  to-day,  but  when  I  was  engaged  in  business  in 
this  city  c'^'unterfeit  money  was  being  pretty  freely  circulat- 
ed. Now,  my  friends,  how  could  it  be  discovered  that  this 
money  was  not  genuine  t  Why,  simply  by  the  ring  in  it 
when  it  was  dropped  on  the  counter  or  table.  So  in  a  like 
manner,  we  can  tell  a  Christian.  Worldly  language  repre- 
sents the  ring  of  the  ungodly  ;  but  divine  language  repre- 
sents the  ring  of  the  Christian.  You  know  that  some  men 
grow  smaller  and  smaller  on  an  intimate  acquaintance  ; 
but  my  experience  is  that  the  more  and  more  you  know  of 
Christ  the  larger  He  becomes.  People  come  here  and 
they  go  out  and  say  "  it  is  foolishness,  that  kind  of  preach- 
ing." You  read  the  Word  of  God.  They  say,  "  lliat  is 
foolish."  That  is  just  what  the  Bible  says  the  Word  is  to 
them.  By  receiving  the  word  of  God  they  get  power  and 
strength.  I  was  in  the  inquiry-room  one  night  talking  to 
a  skeptic.  He  didn't  come  in  to  inquire,  but  to  hear  a 
discussion  with  some  one.  You  know  that  there  are  a 
great  many  people  that  are  fond  of  discussing ;  and  he 
said  he  didn't  believe  in  the  Bible.  He  didn't  agree  with 
it.  But  I  said,  "  Why,  my  dear  friend,  the  Bible  agrees 
with  you.  You  and  the  Bible  agree."  He  said,  "  Oh  no, 
I  don't  believe  in  it  at  all."  "  Why,  yes  you  do  ;  the  Bi- 
ble says,'  The  natural  man  cannot  receive  spiritual  things.'  " 
The  poor  fellow  didn't  know  what  to  do,  so  he  hung  his 
head.  The  moment  we  become  spiritually  minded  then  it 
is  that  we  have  the  blessing  of  God.  The  next  thing  is  a 
new  nature.  Now,  there  are  plenty  of  evidences  of  this 
new  nature.  If  you  have  a  nature  that  longs  for  spiritual 
things,  that  is  an  evidence.  If  we  have  a  new  heart  we 
get  a  new  nature.  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  those  who  serve 
Him  must  do  so  in  Spirit.  Now  we  have  a  new  nature 
that  new  nature  must  have  a  new  God.      Every  one  in 


THE   NEW  BIRTH.  421 

Boston  has  a  god  of  some  kind  that  he  worships.  With 
this  new  birth,  with  this  new  life  in  God,  we  have  new 
ambitions,  new  hopes,  new  joys,  new  peace.  I  never  had 
a  conflict  with  myself  until  I  found  God.  I  had  a  good 
opinion  of  myself,  but  as  soon  as  I  found  God  a  conflict 
sprung  up  between  the  old  nature  and  the  new.  When  a 
man  has  no  conflict  in  himself  you  may  know  that  he  is  not 
a  Christian.  But  when  a  man  or  a  woman  is  struggling 
with  a  mean  contemptible  disposition,  you  may  know  that 
he  or  she  is  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature.  I  have  got  a 
good  deal  more  respect  for  a  woman  who  is  trying  to  over- 
come and  gain  the  victory  over  a  mean,  contemptible  dispo- 
sition, than  for  those  who  are  naturally  pretty  good  and 
don't  want  to  be  any  better.  These  people  come  into  the 
world  with  these  mean,  contemptible  dispositions  and  they 
try  to  conquer  them  and  they  succeed  in  becoming  quite 
respectable,  so  that  we  can  get  along  with  them.  They 
mould  themselves  over  as  it  were.  A  fish  cannot  live  out 
of  the  water  and  we  cannot  live  in  the  water,  and  so  the 
natural  man  cannot  live  for  God.  In  the  7th  and  8th 
chapters  of  Romans  you  will  find  that  Paul  had  this  con- 
flict. That  he  had  a  battle  with  the  old  man.  You  just 
read  these  two  last  chapters  carefully,  and  you  will  see 
that  he  had  the  same  conflict  which  now  troubles  you. 
In  the  last  few  verses  of  the  7th  chapter  you  will  read 
this,  and  you  should  read  carefully.  How  many  times  you 
and  I  can  say  with  the  Apostle  that  "  we  have  done  things 
that  we  hated."  We  have  said  some  thing  that  we  ought 
not  to  have  said,  and  we  have  had  to  beg  some  one's 
pardon.  A  good  many  people  have  got  the  idea  that  the 
"  old  man  "  is  dead.  Satan  has  blinded  them.  We  are 
continually  watching  now.  If  the  "old  man  "  has  been 
cast  out,  we  ought  not  to  have  to  watch.  He  is  not  dead, 
and  we  don't  know  when  he  will  rise  up.  There  is  no 
need  to  watch  a  dead  man.     He  won't  get  up  and  run 


422  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

away.  We  don't  have  anyone  remain  with  the  dead  in 
the  cemeteries.  Paul  says  :  "  Reckon  yourself  dead."  I 
want  to  call  your  attention  to  this  one  truth  of  the  two  na- 
tures. I  want  you  to  take  time  to  look  up  this  subject. 
In  the  first  ten  yeais  of  my  experience  as  a  Christian  I 
had  a  good  many  conflicts,  and  the  question  used  "to 
come  up  if  I  have  been  converted,  why  is  it  that  I  still 
long  to  do  the  things  that  I  used  to  do  .'* "  I  didn't  find 
out  until  after  reading  often  my  Bible,  that  God  gave  me 
a  new  nature  but  did  not  take  away  my  old  nature.  After 
a  child  is  born  we  give  it  a  name.  In  the  62 d  chapter  of 
Isaiah  and  the  2d  verse  it  says  : 

"  And  the  Gentiles  shall  see  thy  righteousness,  and  all 
kings  thy  glory :  and  thou  shalt  be  called  by  a  new  name, 
which  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  shall  name." 

And  in  Revelations  ii.  17  : 

"  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches  ;  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I 
give  to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  will  give  him  a  white 
stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no 
man  knoweth  saving  he  that  receiveth  it." 

Now  after  we  are  brought  into  the  family  of  God,  He 
gives  us  a  new  name.  After  we  become  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  God  we  have  a  birthright.  If  I  were  to  take  a 
street  boy  and  adopt  him  he  would  take  my  name,  so  when 
we  become  sons  and  daughters  of  God  we  take  His  name. 
This  is  not  a  matter  of  education,  it  is  the  work  of  God, 
and  when  He  takes  us  into  His  family  it  is  that  we  become 
heirs  to  the  kingdom  and  peace  of  God.  Another  thing 
we  get ;  we  get  into  a  new  way.  We  do  not  walk  in  the 
same  way.  In  Hebrews  x.  20,  it  says  "  we  are  brought 
into  the  new  and  living  way."  We  give  up  our  own  way 
and  take  His  way.  We  are  led  not  in  darkness  but  in 
light ;  not  in  bondage,  but  in  the  way  of  peace  and  joy. 
We  read  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard.     Not 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  423 

only  that,  but  "  the  way  of  peace  they  have  not  known." 
A  great  many  people  tell  us  that  they  don't  believe  the 
Old  Testament,  but  they  do  believe  the  sermon  upon  the 
Mount.  And  when  you  come  to  read  that  to  them  and 
the  ten  commandments,  you  find  that  they  don't  believe 
that  either :  I  asked  a  woman  in  the  inquiry-room  if  she 
was  a  Christian  and  she  said,  "  You  will  have  to  ask  my 
Minister." 

"  I  might  ask  him."  But  he  was  hundreds  of  miles 
away.  There  are  a  good  many  people  in  just  that  condi- 
tion. They  know  just  what  their  minister  knows  and  noth- 
ing more.  You  who  believe  the  sermon  on  the  Mount,  do 
you  believe  what  is  said  about  the  broad  and  narrow  way  ? 
What  way  are  your  feet  travelling  to-day  ?  Are  "you  in  thai- 
narrow  way  or  are  you  in  that  broad  way  ?  These  people 
like  churches  where  they  are  told  that  they  can  be  saved  in 
their  sins.  But  there  are  churches  in  the  broad  way  as  well 
as  theatres.  A  great  many  people  think  that  all  harlots 
and  thieves  and  righteous  are  to  be  swept  into  heaven 
whether  they  want  to  or  not.  Is  there  happiness  in  this 
broad  way  ?  These  young  men  that  are  living  fast  lives, 
are  they  happy.''  They  lead  miserable  lives,  for  they  have  to 
trample  their  mothers'  prayers  under  foot,  they  have  to  go 
over  the  feelings  of  their  loved  ones.  The  old  way  is  not 
a  good  way.  God  does  not  call  upon  us  to  give  up  a  single 
thing  that  adds  to  our  happiness  ;  all  He  wants  us  to  give 
up  are  the  things  which  are  the  blight  of  our  lives.  When 
I  was  at  Wellesley  College  the  other  day  a  young  lady  said, 
"  Is  it  true,  Mr.  Moody,  as  so  many  tell  us,  that  these  are 
the  best  days  of  our  lives  ? "  I  said,  "  No,  not  if  you  are 
children  of  God."  I  have  served  Christ  for  twenty-one 
years  and  this  last  year  has  been  the  best.  It  grows  bet- 
ter and  better.  I  mount  up  higher  and  higher  every  year. 
I  have  had  more  peace,  more  strength,  more  rest,  the  past 
year  than  I  ever  had  in  my  life.     I  want  now  to  call  your 


424  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE. 

attention   to   the    i6th    chapter    and  the   17th   verse    of 
Mark  : 

"  And  these  signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe  ;  in  my 
name  shall  they  cast  out  devils  ;  they  shall  speak  with  new 


With  all  these  new  things  we  get  also  new  tongues. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  mischief  done  by  slanderous 
tongues.  I  think  we  don't  preach  enough  about  this.  If 
our  hearts  are  right  with  God,  we  will  not  go  out  backbiting 
people.  Many  a  man  has  gone  to  the  grave  with  a  broken 
heart,  on  account  of  a  few  abusive  words  uttered  by  a  pro- 
fessed friend.  Christ  said  to  His  disciples  when  He  was 
leaving  them,  "  These  signs  shall  follow  them  ;  they  shall 
speak  with  new  tongues."  I  heard  the  story  of  a  young 
man  who  abused  his  mother  and  finally  knocked  her  down, 
because  she  would  not  give  him  money  to  gamble  with. 
She  did  not  mind  this  ;  she  only  prayed  for  him.  She  did 
not  care  for  the  money,  but  she  did  for  his  soul.  He  came 
back  and  he  asked  his  mother  to  forgive  him,  and  she  did 
it  gladly,  and  he  praised  God,  and  he  erected  a  family 
.  altar.  When  I  was  in  London  in  1872  I  was  acquainted 
\  with  a  very  wealthy  young  man  who  had  thirteen  servants, 
/  and  they  were  all  Christians  but  one.  At  last  I  converted 
I  that  one,  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  then,  when  all  the  ser- 
i  vants  were  at  prayer  with  the  family,  the  young  man  said, 
"  Now  we  can  sing '  Oh  Happy  Day  that  Fixed  my  Choice.'  " 
They  couldn't  sing  it  while  that  one  was  unconverted.  I 
don't  know  but  it  would  be  well  for  us  to  be  more  careful 
how  we  sing.  I  don't  know  why  it  is  not  as  bad  to  sing  a  lie 
as  to  speak  one.  There  are  some  ladies  here  that  sing,  can 
they  truly  sing  "  Oh  Happy  Day  that  Fixed  my  Choice  ?  "  I 
cannot  sing.  I  could  not  start  "  Rock  of  Ages,"  but  I 
suppose  I  have  heard  it  once  a  day  for  six  years.  I  cannot 
sing  with  my  lips.  I  cannot  get  it  out  of  these  thick  lips 
of  mine,  but  way  down  in  my  heart   \  sing  just  as  well  as 


THE  NEW   SIRTH.  425 

Mr.  Sankey,  and  it  is  just  as  acceptable  to  God.  But  when 
we  all  get  to  heaven  I  expect  to  sing  with  l^.Ioses  and  the 
Lamb.  A  real  Christian  church  is  a  church  of  song,  and  it 
ain't  going  to  hire  two  or  three  men  or  women  to  do  the 
singing  for  them,  not  by  a  good  deal.  I  don't  know  all 
they  do  in  heaven,  but  they  sing  there,  and  by  and  by  we 
shall  be  there  and  join  with  them.  Good  Christians  are 
not  going  to  live  upon  the  New  York  Ledger.  But  there 
are  a  good  many  people  the  old  Adam  clings  to.  Do  not 
let  us  feed  upon  this  new  literature,  this  miserable  stuff 
that  is  printed.  Do  not  let  us  feed  our  minds  upon  this, 
but  let  us  read  this  Word  through  two  and  three  times  and 
we  shall  have  no  taste  for  any  other  book.  Another  thing 
we  get,  we  get  new  friends.  I  thank  God  for  the  new 
friends  Christ  has  given  me.  The  truest  friends  are  Chris 
tians.  A  young  man  came  to  me  and  said  ;  "  Mr.  Moody, 
I  have  been  converted,  shall  I  give  up  all  my  old  friends  ?  " 
I  said,  "  No,  go  for  them.  Keep  telling  them  about  Christ 
and  they  will  either  come  to  God  or  give  you  up."  A 
gambler  told  me  one  day  he  gambled  away  all  his  money, 
and  then  he  gambled  away  some  of  his  employer's  money, 
and  he  knew  that  if  he  did  not  replace  it  he  would  be  dis- 
missed and  perhaps  arrested.  He  told  his  friends,  as  he 
thought  them,  and  he  wanted  to  borrow  money  enough  to 
replace  his  employer's  money.  But  his  supposed  friends 
laughed  at  him,  so  he  went  to  a  Christian  man  and  told 
him  all  and  he  lent  him  the  money,  and  he  gave  his  heart 
to  Christ,  and  he  has  never  gone  near  those  gamblers  since. 
If  you  want  true  friends  you  want  the  friends  of  Christ.  I 
wish  I  had  time  to  go  on,  but  my  time  is  up.  Let  us  just 
sum  up  all  these  new  things.  I  want  to  say  right  here  that  ^ 
when  I  was  converted  I  thought  I  had  got  a  great  boon, 
the  orreatest  I  had  ever  received.  I  wondered  if  it  would 
seem  as  pleasant  to  me  after  a  few  years,  and  if  these  new 
things  would  not  come  to  be  old  things.     But  Christ  is  a 


426  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

thousand  times  more  to  me  now  than  He  was  then. 
If  you  will  just  come  to  Christ,  now,  to-day  ;  He  will  re- 
ceive you  and  bless  you.  Now,  let  us  see  what  these 
new  things  are.  There  is  the  new  birth,  have  you  got  that  ? 
The  new  creature,  are  you  that  ?  The  new  nature,  have 
you  got  that?  A  new  name,  have  you  got  that  given  you  ? 
Can  you  say  that  you  are  children  of  God  ?  We  know 
what  we  are,  but  it  don't  appear  what  we  shall  be  by  and 
by  when  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.  My  little  boy  was 
just  as  much  mine  the  day  he  was  born  as  he  is  now,  when 
he  is  eight  years  old.  Have  you  got  into  the  new  way.'* 
Have  you  got  a  new  tongue  t  Do  you  sing  a  new  song  ? 
Do  you  have  new  spiritual  food?  Have  you  got  new 
friends  ?  If  you  get  these  to-day,  this  will  be  the  most 
blessed  Sabbath  you  have  ever  spent. 


ITTAI'S  FRIENDSHIP   FOR  DAVID. 


I  WILL  read  a  few  verses  in  the  15th  chapter  of  2d 
Samuel,  beginning  at  the  19th  verse  : 

"  Then  said  the  king  to  Ittai  the  Gittite,  Wherefore 
goest  thou  also  with  us  ?  return  to  thy  place,  and  abide 
with  the  king  :  for  thou  art  a  stranger,  and  also  an  exile. 

"  Whereas  thou  earnest  but  yesterday,  should  I  this  day 
make  thee  go  up  and  down  with  us  ?  seeing  I  go  whither  I 
may,  return  thou,  and  take  back  thy  brethren  :  mercy  and 
truth  be  with  thee. 

*'  And  Ittai  answered  the  king,  and  said,  As  the  Lord 
liveth,  and  as  my  lord  the  king  liveth,  surely  in  what  place 
my  lord  the  king  shall  be,  whether  in  death  or  life,  even 
there  also  will  thy  servant  be. 

"  And  David  said  to  Ittai,  Go  and  pass  over.  And  Ittai 
the- Gittite  passed  over,  and  all  his  men,  and  all  the  little 
ones  that  were  with  him. 

"  And  all  the  country  wept  with  a  loud  voice,  and  all  the 
people  passed  over  :  the  king  also  himself  passed  over  the 
brook  Kidron,  and  all  the  people  passed  over,  toward  the 
way  of  the  wilderness." 

What  must  have  been  the  feeling  of  David  when  he  got 
outside  of  the  city  and  found  this  foreigner,  this  stranger, 
out  there  with  600  men  ready  and  willing  to  go  with  him. 
He  had  had  three  men  that  sat  at  his  table,  and  in  the.  hour 
cf  trial,  in  the  hour  of  trouble,  they  had  deserted  him.  It 
is  in  the  time  of  darkness  that  we  find  out  our  friends,  you 
find  then  who  are  your  friends.  There  are  some  men  now 
passing  through  the  hard  times  in  Boston,  and  they  have 
found  out  who  their  friends  are.  Now,  David  was  in 
tiouble,  and  here  was  this  Ittai  standing  right  by  him. 
How  that  must  have  cheered  the  heart  of  the  king!  He 
md  been   driven  from   the   throne  by  Absalom,  and  the 

v/hole  kingdom  seemed  to  be  going  with  Absalom.     Absa- 

427 


428  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

lorn  and  those  who  were  with  him  were  plannir  g  to  take 
the  life  of  David,  but  here  we  find  this  stranger,  this  I.tai, 
just  following  David,  and  when  David  told  him  to  go  back, 
see  what  he  says,  I  think  it  is  one  of  the  sweetest  things  in 
the  whole  life  of  David  : 

"Then  said  the  king  to  Ittai  the  Gittite,  Wherefore 
goest  thou  also  with  us  ?  return  to  thy  place,  and  abide 
with  the  king  :  for  thou  art  a  stranger,  and  also  an  exile. 

"  Whereas  thou  earnest  but  yesterday,  should  1  this  day 
make  thee  go  up  and  down  with  us  ?  seeing  I  go  whither  I 
may,  return  thou,  and  take  back  thy  brethren  :  mercy  and 
truth  be  with  thee." 

Here  was  a  man  that  was  attached  to  a  person.  That 
was  the  point  I  wanted  to  call  your  attention  to.  We  are 
living  I  think  in  tlie  day  of  shams.  There  are  a  good 
many  people  who  are  attached  to  creeds  and  denominations 
and  churches.  They  are  attached  to  this  and  that,  instead 
of  a  person.  Creeds  and  churches  are  all  right  in  their 
places,  but  if  a  man  puts  them  in  the  place  of  a  Saviour 
and  a  personal  Christ*  they  are  a  snare.  He  would  be 
willing  to  give  up  everything  but  Christ  in  the  hour  of 
trouble,  and  if  he  is  attached  to  Christ  he  will  be  able  to 
say,  ''  Wherever  Thou  goest  I  go."  David  had  nothing  to 
offer  this  man.  There  he  was  barefooted,  leaving  the 
throne.     Ittai  was  attached  to  the  man. 

That  is  what  we  want  now  ;  men  are  just  counting  the 
cost  in  this  city,  hesitating  whether  they  are  going  to  take 
Christ  or  not.  But  let  me  tell  you,  my  friends,  if  you  are 
going  to  take  Him  it  must  be  as  a  personal  Christ,  and  you 
should  be  willing  and  give  up  everything  for  Him.  David 
was  everything  to  Ittai,  and  life  was  nothing.  No  man  had 
better  friends  than  David  had  in  his  day.  What  we  want 
is  to  be  attached  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  Ittai  was  to 
David.  That  is  the  kind  of  friendship  we  want.  But  I 
don't  want  to  take  up  much  time.  I  want  to  hear  from  a 
good  many  who  are  to  testify  this  afternoon. 


GOD'S  INSTRUMENTALITIES. 


Mr.  Moody  read  for  the  Scripture  lesson,  the  First  Epistle 
to   the   Corinthians,  the  first  chapter,  from  the   eighteenth 


"  For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them  that  perish 
foolishness ;  but  unto  us  which  are  saved  it  is  the  power  of 
God. 

"  For  it  is  written,  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the  wise, 
and  will  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  of  the  prudent. 

"  Where  is  the  wise  ?  Where  is  the  scribe  ?  Where  is  the 
disputer  of  this  world  ?  Hath  not  God  made  foolish  the  wis- 
dom of  this  world  ? 

"  For  after  that  in  the  wisdom  of  God  the  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing to  save  them  that  believe. 

"  For  the  Jews  require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after 
wisdom. 

"  But  we  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  the  Jews  a  stum- 
bling block  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness. 

"  But  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks, 
Christ  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God. 

"  Because  the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  men  ;  and 
the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men. 

"For  ye  see  your  calling,  brethren,  how  that  not  many 
wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble, 
are  called. 

"But  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  wise  ;  and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things 
of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty  ; 

"And  base  things  of  the  world  and  things  which  are  de- 
spised, hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  many  things  which  are 
not,  to  brmg  to  naught  things  that  are. 

"  That  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence. 


^3o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

"But  of  him  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of  God  is  made 
unto  us  wisdom  and  righteousness,  and  sanctificatio.i  and 
redemption  ; 

"That,  according  as  it  is  written,  he  that  glorieth  let  him 
glory  in  the  Lord." 

SERMON. 

I.  Corinthians,  L,  27:  "God  hath  chosen  the  foolish 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise."  We  very  often 
hear  people  say  that  they  have  not  got  strength  to  work  for 
God.  They  would  like  to  work  for  Him,  only  they  are  so 
weak  that  they  think  they  cannot.  That  is  just  what  the 
Lard  wants ;  it  is  our  weakness,  not  our  strength.  I  think  the 
great  error  is  that  we  have  got  too  much  strength,  and  put 
too  much  reliance  in  ourselves,  for  God  to  use  us.  We  are 
leaning  upon  our  own  strength.  When  we  are  weak,  then  are 
we  strong.  We  should  lean  upon  God's  strength  and  not 
our  own.  You  find  that  in  all  ages  God  has  taken  up  weak 
things  to  confound  the  mighty.  He  has  not  taken  the  strong. 
We  find  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Revelation  : 

"And  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  upon  the 
throne  a  book  written  within  and  on  the  back  side,  and  sealed 
with  seven  seals. 

"And  no  man  in  heaven  nor  on  earth,  neither  under  the 
earth,  was  found  there  able  to  open  the  book,  neither  to  look 
thereon. 

"And  I  wept  much  because  no  man  was  found  worthy  to 
open  and  to  read  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon." 

The  book  was  handed  around  and  no  one  opened  it.  There 
were  the  patriarchs  and  their  sons  of  all  ages  gathered  in  that 
kingdom,  and  we  find  that  not  one  of  them  was  strong  enough 
to  open  the  book. 

There  was  Enoch,  who  was  translated  to  heaven  ;  he  could 
not  open  the  book.  Noah,  who  had  been  walking  with  God 
so  long,  and  yet  was  not  worthy  to  open  that  book.  Abra- 
ham, the  child  of  God,  and  his  posterity  gathered  there,  who 
could  not  open  it.    Moses,  who  went  to  the  top  of  the  moun- 


G  OD'S  INS  TR I  'MENTALITIES. 


431 


tain  and  talked  with  God  and  took  from  Him  the  law,  and 
yet  was  not  worthy.  Elijah,  who  went  to  heaven  in  a  chariot 
of  fire,  he  was  not  worthy.  And  John  wept  much  because 
tliere  were  none  able  to  open  it.  Some  one  told  him  that 
the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  present,  and  he  was  worthy 
to  open  it.  He  looked  to  see  and  lo  !  it  was  the  slain  Lamb. 
That  is  what  the  Scripture  calls  a  Hon.  God's  lion  is  always 
a  lamb.  It  is  not  the  strength  of  the  world  we  want  but  the 
weakness,  forgetfulness  of  self,  and  then  we  will  find  strength. 
The  lion  of  Calvary  was  the  Lamb  of  God.  And  God  came 
forth  and  overcame  it.  My  friends,  we  are  going  to  canvass 
this  city  to  save  sinners.  There  are  75,000  families  whom 
we  want  to  visit  in  this  city,  and  to  carry  the  Gospel  into 
every  home  here  ;  and  if  families  will  not  come  to  the  Taber- 
nacle, let  them  come  to  the  churches.  Let  us  seek  them  out 
in  their  homes  and  carry  the  blessed  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  them.  If  they  will  not  come  to  us  we  have  got  to  go  to 
them,  because  that  is  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  The  Son  of 
Man  is  coming  to  seek  and  to  save  those  that  are  lost,  and 
let  no  one  say  that  they  have  not  strength  to  do  that.  Why, 
any  little  boy,  any  man  or  woman,  can  carry  some  tracts  or 
some  word  and  message  of  the  Gospel  to  these  homes.  If 
they  are  so  prejudiced  that  they  will  not  come  to  this  Taber- 
nacle, ask  them  into  the  churches ;  we  don't  care  where  they 
go,  if  they  will  only  hear  the  Gospel,  and  if  Christians  in  this 
audience,  this  morning,  would  only  wake  up  and  consecrate 
themselves  to  God  and  His  service,  the  Gospel  can  be  car- 
ried to  every  family  in  the  city  of  Boston  this  week.  If  they 
will  not  believe  it,  that  is  not  our  fault.  God  does  not  tell 
us  to  go  to  them  and  preach,  but  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature.  We  are  to  deliver  the  message,  and  then  the 
blood  of  their  souls  will  not  be  required  at  our  hands.  When 
we  were  trying  to  have  London  canvassed  an  old  woman 
came  to  us,  eighty-five  years  old,  and  wanted  a  district,  just 
to  do  a  little  more  work  for  the  Master  before  she  went  hence. 


432  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

We  gave  her  a  district  and  she  went  out  and  went  to  the 
homes,  and  there  was  not  a  home  but  was  glad  to  see  her, 
and  she  would  come  down  and  pray  with  them  with  trembling 
voice.  I  don't  know  of  anj^thing  that  impressed  me  more 
than  that  incident  when  I  was  in  London  ;  to  think  that  an 
old  woman  eighty-five  years  of  age  should  come  and  give 
what  little  strength  she  had  to  that  work.  Are  there  not 
many  dying  spiritually  now  in  Boston  for  want  of  some  work 
of  this  sort  ?  Will  we  not  be  willing  to  come  to  God  with  all 
our  foolishness  and  weakness  and  say,  "  Lord,  here  am  I,  use 
me  ! "  God  can  do  it  if  we  are  willing.  He  can  make  use 
of  our  ignorance  and  foolishness.  If  the  mighty  power  of 
God  comes  down  upon  us,  our  little  effort  shall  be  a  great 
blessing.  If  one  with  the  power  of  God  has  put  a  thousand 
to  flight,  two  can  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  If  God  is  with 
us  who  can  be  against  us.  Let  us  keep  in  mind  that  God 
delights  in  all  ages  to  use  weak  things.  When  He  wanted  that 
ark  built  He  did  not  call  a  nation  to  His  aid,  but  sent  one 
solitary  man,  Noah,  to  build  it.  When  He  wanted  to  call  the 
nations  out  of  bondage  He  did  not  call  upon  princes  and 
kings,  but  He  called  upon  Abraham.  He  had  given  Abra- 
ham no  child,  and  there  was  that  old  man  without  any  pos- 
terity called  upon  to  do  the  great  work.  God  tried  him,  and 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  he  was  one  of  the  most  contemptible 
things  to  bring  about  such  a  work.  Kings  and  princes  looked 
down  upon  him,  but  with  God's  aid  he  was  to  bring  a  bless- 
ing to  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  The  world  looked  upon 
him  with  scorn,  but  he  had  faith  and  believed  what  God  had 
said.  He  took  God  at  His  word.  We  want  his  strength,  we 
want  his  faith  in  God,  we  want  to  get  hold  of  his  faith  and 
belief.  If  God  says  He  wi  1  do  a  thing  it  will  be  done.  Look 
again ;  when  He  wanted  to  bring  those  three  million  children 
out  of  bondage,  Pie  did  not  send  out  to  some  great  prince  or 
monarch,  but  met  Moses  and  probably  said  to  him,  "You  go 
down  into  Egypt  for  Me  and  bring  My  children  up  out  of 


GOD'S  INSTRUMENTALITIES.  433 

bondage."  And  Moses  said,  "  Why,  Lord,  what  am  I  ?! 
Three  miUion  !  How  can  I  do  it  ?  "  But  the  Lord  said, 
*'  Well,  I  am  with  you,  I  will  help  you."  But  Moses  was 
staggered  at  the  idea  of  his  standing  before  that  great 
monarch,  Pharaoh.  He  not  only  had  no  eloquence,  but 
was  a  man  almost  unknown.  If  we  had  been  going  to  do 
such  an  act,  we  would  probably  have  selected  some  great 
statesman,  some  man  of  great  influence  ;  but  here  was  a 
man  who  had  been  in  the  desert  forty  years.  The  Egyp- 
tians knew  nothing  of  him  ;  he  had  been  forgotten  in  fallen 
Egypt.  He  had  been  gone  so  long  that  those  who  had 
known  him  thought  he  was  dead  and  gone  forever.  Yet  God 
sent  him,  one  man,  alone  into  that  kingdom.  He  stood 
before  Pharaoh.  Now,  what  is  the  result?  Did  he  fail? 
No  man  who  has  been  sent  out  by  God  has  failed  yet.  If  1 
God  sends  us  we  will  be  successful.  But  we  must  be  sure 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  sending  us  out,  and  then  we  can  go  \ 
forward,  and  success  will  crown  our  efforts.  These  three  mil-  { 
lions  of  people  were  brought  up  out  of  fallen  Egypt  through  ' 
Moses  by  the  mighty  power  of  God.  And  God  got  the  glory,  i 
and  that  is  what  He  says  here.  He  wants  the  glory.  God 
uses  even  the  most  despised,  base,  foolish  and  ignorant  instru- 
ments to  do  His  work.  Remember  that  God  wants  the  glory.  ' 
He  has  said  that  no  flesh  shall  glory  in  His  sight.  We  are  to 
take  no  glory  to  ourselves ;  when  we  come  to  that  position 
God  can  use  us.  When  He  wanted  to  rid  Germany  of  the 
darkness  and  gloom  that  had  come  upon  that  country  He 
did  not  call  forth  an  army  of  angels  and  preachers,  but  He 
took  only  a  German  monk,  Martin  Luther,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God,  through  Martin  Luther,  worked  wonders  there.  It 
looked  small  in  the  sight  of  that  country  to  think  that  one 
German  was  to  do  such  a  work,  but  the  Spirit'  of  God 
triumphed.  And  then  again  when  the  darkness  and  gloom 
came  upon  Scotland,  he  called  upon  John  Knox  to  work 
there,  and   the  influence  of  his  labors  still  lingers,  and  by 


434  ^^  ^^^  PEOPLE. 

Christ's  aid,  his  name  rolled  back  the  dark  tide  of  infidelity 
in  that  country.  It  was  so  in  the  days  of  Wesley  and  White- 
field.  Those  were  dark,  gloomy  days.  He  called  upon  those 
two  Oxford  students  to  do  the  work.  He  used  them.  There 
is  many  a  man  in  this  city  God  can  use  if  he  is  only  willing 
to  become  empty  of  self,  and  go  down  in  the  dust  before 
God,  and  dien  God  can  use  him.  He  will  be  glad  to.  Sup- 
posing a  man  twenty-five  years  ago  had  said  that  London 
was  going  to  have  the  greatest  preacher  in  modern  times. 
In  fact,  it  is  a  question  in  my  mind  if  there  has  been  his 
equal  for  the  last  thousand  years.  Supposing  any  one  had 
said  that  such  a  man  was  going  to  be  called  to  that  city  and 
declare  God's  will  and  counsel  and  not  be  afraid  of  what  the 
world  would  say,  but  in  that  great  materialist  centre  of  the 
world  was  going  to  deliver  the  message  of  God.  We  would 
have  been  looking  around  to  see  where  such  a  man  was 
coming  from  and  we  would  have,  perhaps,  thought  that  that 
man  was  going  to  be  taken  from  some  institution,  and  be 
some  great  orator  ;  but  instead  of  that  Cxod  went  out  into 
the  country  and  called  a  boy  to  the  work  who  never  was  in 
college  (Ciiarles  Spurgeon),  to  come  up  to  London  and 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  he  preached  it  as  no  other  man  ever 
has,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him.  London  looked 
down  upon  him  at  first,  but  see  what  a  great  work  he  has 
done.  God  takes  weak  things  to  do  His  work — not  great. 
Many  a  man  in  Boston  is  looked  down  upon  because  he  is 
not  brilliant.  He  looks  small  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  with  that  man,  God  can  use  him.  These  mighty  men 
of  the  world  who  look  down  upon  weak  Christians  will  be 
forgotten  in  a  little  while.  Many  a  man  that  shines  and 
glitters  now  upon  the  platform  will  soon  be  forgotten,  but 
the  man  or  woman  who  does  anything  for  Christ  will  never 
be  forgotten.  If  God  is  in  any  movement,  don't  look  upon 
it  as  small ;  the  world  will  look  upon  it  as  a  very  small  thing, 
perhaps,  but  it  never  pays  to  look  down  upon  what  God  is 


G  on  S  INS  TR  UMENTALITIES. 


435 


in.  Look  at  that  instance  of  the  little  cloud.  The  servant 
of  the  prophet  comes  out  and  looks  to  see  if  he  can  see  die 
cloud.  There  was  one  in  the  morning,  but  when  he  went 
out  he  could  not  see  it.  He  came  back  to  the  prophet  and 
told  him  there  was  none,  but  he  said  to  him,  "  Go  again," 
and  there  the  prophet  is  praying  to  the  God  of  Heaven  for  the 
cloud  to  appear.  He  had  just  got  an  answer  a  little  while 
before,  when  he  prayed  for  fire,  but  he  was  now  praying  for 
water.  The  servant  could  not  see  anything  of  the  cloud. 
He  went  again  and  again.  That  prophet  had  faith  that  his 
prayers  were  going  to  be  answered.  He  says  to  the  servant, 
"  I  am  praying  and  I  am  sure  that  God  is  going  to  answer 
my  prayer."  And  the  servant  comes  back  the  seventh  time 
and  says  he  sees  a  little  cloud,  but  he  thinks  it  is  too  small 
to  be  of  any  consequence ;  but  the  prophet  knew  that  God 
was  behind  that  little  cloud  and  that  was  enough  for  him. 
The  world  might  call  that  cloud  only  a  little  thing,  but  his 
God  was  behind  it,  and  he  knew  there  was  power  in  it.  God 
takes  up  little  things,  and  although  they  may  seem  small  in 
our  sight,  they  are  mighty  when  He  is  in  them.  He  uses 
weak  things,  not  strong ;  foolish,  not  wise  ;  base,  ignorant, 
despised  things  ;  He  intends  that  no  flesh  shall  glory  in  His 
sight.  Spurgeon,  in  speaking  about  Moses  going  before 
Pharaoh,  relates  that  he  told  him  how  God  would  deluge 
his  kingdom  with  frogs.  "  Thy  God,  the  God  of  frogs  ! " 
Pharaoh  says.  "  Well,  you  can  make  light  of  frogs,  they  are 
small  things,  but  there  are  a  great  many  of  them ;  they  may 
be  very  weak,  but  I  have  a  good  many  of  them."  Now,  the 
children  of  God  may  be  weak  in  this  city,  but  there  are  a 
good  many  of  them,  and  let  us  be  up  and  about  the  work  of 
our  Master.  In  every  street,  every  society,  in  nearly  every 
house  in  the  city  Christ  has  a  faithful  friend,  and  He  will  use 
them,  and  if  we  all  go  to  work  unitedly  we  will  see  wonderful 
results  in  this  city.  I  don't  believe  that  there  is  a  Christian 
man  or  woman  in  this  assembly  that  cannot  lead  one  soul  to 


^^e  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

Christ.  If  they  are  watching  for  souls  and  are  faithful,  if  we 
are  wide  awake  and  look  to  God  for  power,  we  will  get  it. 
The  Lord  God  will  use  us  in  building  up  His  kingdom.  Let  us 
be  performing  some  little  thing.  Even  that  Httle  girl  there 
may  be  won  to  the  Saviour  and  convert  others,  and  a  hun- 
dred may  convert  a  thousand,  and  that  thousand  ten  thousand, 
and  the  ten  thousand  one  hundred  thousand,  and  so  on. 
Don't  you  see  how  the  current  would  be  swelHng  and  widen- 
ing as  it  rolls  on  to  eternity.  No  man  can  tell  what  the 
blessed  results  of  winning  one  soul  to  Christ  may  be.  Why 
up  there  in  the  mountain  is  a  river,  a  little  stream,  and  in  the 
dry  summer  months  the  rocks  could  drink  it  up,  but  as  it 
goes  down  the  mountain  there  are  little  rivers  and  brooks 
running  into  it,  and  by  and  by  there  are  larger  brooks  and 
by  and  by  rivers,  and  it  becomes  a  great  stream,  and  on  its 
bosom  there  is  a  great  commerce  carried  on,  and  on  each 
bank  there  are  large  towns  and  cities  flourishing,  and  by  and 
by  it  joins  the  Mississippi  and  other  rivers.  And  so  we  may 
set  a  stream  flowing  on  through  eternity  by  winning  one  soul 
to  Christ,  which  wins  others,  and  so  the  blessed  work  goes 
on.  John  Knox's  influence  has  not  left  the  world  yet;  many 
a  man  has  been  blessed  through  his  influence  and  life.  Now, 
Martin  Luther's  influence  still  exists.  Blessed  are  they  that 
die  in  the  Lord,  for  they  shall  rest ;  but  mark  what  follows — 
their  works  shall  follow  them.  My  friends,  you  that  are 
awake  and  at  work,  can  swell  the  current.  Are  you  willing 
to  be  a  fool  in.  the  sight  of  the  world  ?  Though  men  may 
scoff  at  you,  work  for  the  Lord.  There  are  three  wiles  of 
the  devil.  The  first  is,  he  uses  all  hell  to  keep  men  from 
going  to  Christ.  After  he  has  done  that,  and  if  a  man  breaks 
through  it  all  and  gets  to  Christ,  he  moves  all  hell  to  keep 
his  mouth  closed,  so  that  he  will  not  speak  and  testify  for 
God.  And  then  if  he  does  get  his  mouth  open  and  begins 
to  work,  the  devil  moves  all  hell  to  blacken  his  character  and 
to  break  down  his  influence,  and  on  this  line  the  devil  has 


G  OnS  INS TR  UMENTALITIES. 


437 


been  working  these  thousand  years,  and  he  will  continue  to 
work.  And  he  causes  now,  if  you  work  for  God,  that  you 
will  be  hated.  A  lady  said  to  me  that  she  would  like  to 
scream  out  at  one  of  the  meetings  at  what  was  said,  that  she 
did  not  have  to  suffer  persecution,  but  it  was  all  lovely  now 
she  was  converted.  Poor,  deluded  woman  !  Why,  if  she 
lives  in  Christ  Jesus  she  must  suffer  persecution.  If  people 
keep  still,  and  do  not  bother  the  devil,  and  make  inroads 
upon  his  kingdom,  he  will  not  trouble  them.  He  likes  those 
Christians  who  are  deceived — who  are  only  stumbling-blocks 
in  the  Church — who,  when  a  man  becomes  dead  in  earnest, 
and  red-hot  in  this  work,  with  his  soul  on  fire  with  his  love 
for  Christ — then  it  is  that  opposition  begins  to  gather,  and 
the  devil  tries  all  he  can  to  break  that  man  down.  Keep  in 
mind  this  :  If  the  world  has  not  anything  to  say  against  you, 
there  will  be  very  little  said  for  you  in  heaven  ;  if  you  are 
not  unpopular  here,  you  will  not  be  popular  there.  Every 
man  that  has  begun  to  confess  Christ  has  been  persecuted. 
Many  have  been  lied  about  and  slandered,  and  so  it  will 
keep  on  as  long  as  the  Church  is  on  earth.  When  a  man 
becomes  filled  with  the  love  of  God  and  works  for  God,  there 
will  be  opposition,  and  if  there  is  a  true  revival  in  Boston 
there  will  be  opposition.  I  tremble  when  an  ungodly  man 
speaks  in  favor  of  these  meetings,  as  1  fear  that  I  have  not 
given  the  work  with  the  full  spirit  that  it  ought  to  have  been 
given;  because  when  the  truth  is  spoken,  it  cuts  into  their 
hearts  and  they  don't  like  it.  It  brings  out  their  sins.  One 
man  came  in  here  who  was  living  with  sin  and  the  truth  sank 
into  his  heart.  His  wife  had  been  praying  for  him.  He  was 
living — well,  I  might  as  well  say  it — in  adultery.  He  went 
out  of  here  swearing  and  mad  because  the  truth  sank  into 
his  heart.  He  thought  his  wife  had  been  tellmg  me  some- 
thing about  him,  but  I  did  not  know  anything  about  him.  The 
Spirit  of  God  had  reached  liim  and  convicted  him  of  his  sinful 
life.     But  when  the  Gospel  is  preached  and  the  Holy  Ghost 


438  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

cames  it  home,  the  sinner  is  convicted.  They  don't  like  it, 
and  then  begins  the  opposition.  If  we  are  true  Christians  let 
us  work  for  God  as  one  man.  Let  us  pray  to  God  that  He 
may  fill  us  with  power  to  deliver  the  message  as  God  gives 
it,  and  not  be  afraid  of  what  men  say,  but  to  deliver  it  faith- 
fully and  truly,  and  then  pray  God  to  carry  it  home  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  Now,  are  we  ready  to  do  some  little 
thing  for  the  Lord  this  week  ?  I  came  here  this  morning 
with  one  tliought — to  see  if  I  could  not  stir  up  men  and 
women  to  do  some  one  thing  for  Christ  this  week.  Just 
some  one  thing.  Don't  you  see  if  you  do  some  one  thing 
in  the  right  spirit,  Christ  will  bless  it,  and  there  will  be  a 
great  deal  done  in  the  city  of  Boston  this  week  for  Christ  if  we 
all  work  ?  There  was  a  young  man  in  Boston  a  few  weeks 
ago  who  was  so  impressed  that  he  ought  to  do  something  for 
God  that  he  went  to  work,  and  having  one  brother,  who  lived 
in  his  native  town,  he  went  home  and  wrote  this  brother  a 
kind  letter,  and  just  poured  his  heart  out  to  that  brother, 
and  told  him  how  anxious  he  was  that  he  should  be  a  Chris- 
tian. It  was  quite  a  cold  day  in  March  when  that  brother 
got  that  letter.  I  heard  him  get  up  in  meeting  and  tell  the 
incident  last  fall.  He  said  it  was  most  too  cold  to  read  it, 
but  he  thought  he  would  like  to  see  what  his  brother  had 
written,  and  so  he  read  it,  and  one  portion  of  it  was  this : 
"  Now,  my  brother,  I  am  going  to  pray  for  you  every  day 
until  I  hear  that  you  have  accepted  Christ  for  your  Saviour." 
That  brother  could  not  keep  back  his  tears  as  he  read  it  and 
he  said  right  there,  "  I  will  believe  and  will  receive  Christ," 
and  God  converted  him  right  there  in  his  sleigh  on  his  way 
home.  He  had  a  happy  wife,  and  when  he  got  home  and 
told  her  of  it  that  wife  of  course  rejoiced.  Let  me  tell  you 
the  results  of  that  little  letter.  That  young  man  had  a  school- 
mate who  lived  up  on  a  hill  near  by  who  had  drunk  up  his 
farm.  His  wife  had  left  him,  and  he  was  in  sin.  He  was  an 
only  son,  well  educated,  and  had   been  a  promising  youth, 


GOD'S  INSTRUMENTALITIES. 


439 


but  then  he  was  just  a  wreck  ;  then  this  young  man  who 
had  got  blessed  began  to  labor  with  that  old  friend  and 
talk  with  him  and  pray  with  him,  and  his  wife  prayed  with 
him,  and  nearly  two  years  ago  he  led  that  man  to  Christ. 
But  there  was  another  neighbor,  just  beyond,  who  had  been 
forty  years  a  drunkard,  and  these  two  men  went  for  that 
drunkard,  and  the  Lord  God  answered  their  prayers.  He 
is  a  saved  man  now  and  they  are  having  meetings  in  the 
school-house,  and  the  whole  neighborhood  is  being  blest,  all 
the  result  of  one  letter.  How  God  uses  weak  things !  You 
cannot  tell,  my  friends,  how  much  you  may  accomplish  if 
you  win  one  soul  to  Christ.  Ralph  Wells  tells  a  touching 
incident  of  an  old  lady  in  New  York  State.  She  was  seventy- 
five  years  old  and  had  a  Sunday  School  class.  She  was  poor, 
and  one  Sunday  when  it  stormed  very  hard  she  thought  she 
could  not  go  to  that  Sunday  School,  it  being  two  miles  off. 
She  said,  "It  storms  so  bad  I  think  I  won't  go;"  but  just 
then  the  thought  came  to  her,  "  Supposing  any  of  my  schol- 
ars are  there,  and  if  they  come  through  this  storm  it  certainly 
will  seem  that  they  are  interested ; "  and  so  that  old  lady 
started  and  went  there  in  the  driving  storm,  two  miles  to  the 
school,  and  there  she  found  one  young  man,  and  she  talked 
with  him  about  the  Saviour  and  prayed  for  him.  You  know 
it  is  very  good  sometimes  to  come  down  to  one  subject 
where  there  are  a  great  many.  One  may  think  you  mean 
some  one  else  when  you  talk  to  them  all,  but  that  scholar 
could  make  no  mistake.  He  knew  that  the  teacher  meant 
him.  The  next  Sunday  he  was  not  there,  and  she  made  in- 
quiries and  found  he  had  gone  into  the  army.  Two  years 
after  she  got  a  communication  from  a  stranger  and  learned 
that  the  young  man  was  dying  in  a  Southern  hospital,  and 
he  sent  back  word  to  that  old  lady  that  that  Sunday  she 
came  two  miles  through  the  storm  to  talk  with  him  was  the 
turning  point  in  his  life.  He  had  tried  to  forget  it,  but 
could  not.    The  thought  that  she  had  come  two  miles  in  that 


440  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

beating  storm  to  do  a  little  good  made  an  impression  upon 
his  mind  that  he  could  not  forget,  and  led  him  to  the  Saviour. 
He  sent  back  a  rejoicing  message.  Did  not  she  get  paid  foi 
going  that  two  miles?  It  would  have  paid  her  for  going  a 
hundred  miles.  He  is  in  glory  now.  And  there  are  many 
aged  ])ilgrims  up  yonder  who  may  be,  this  morning,  talking 
about  the  souls  they  want  to  see  saved.  Oh  what  a  blessed 
privilege  it  is  to  be  able  to  win  one  soul  to  Christ !  Shall 
we  this  morning  here  consecrate  ourselves  to  His  sei  vice  ? 
Shall  we  bring  our  foolishness  and  weakness  and  lay  them 
upon  the  altar,  and  say,  "  Here,  Lord  am  I  !  Use  me  ?  " 
A  very  httle  boy  was  once  upon  his  sick  bed,  and  his  minis- 
ter visited  him.  The  bed-ridden  boy  said  that  he  would 
never  get  up,  and  the  little  fellow  was  moaning  because  he 
could  not  do  anything  for  Christ.  He  thought  that  he  had 
got  to  die  and  never  accomplish  anything  for  the  Master,  and 
it  troubled  him,  and  he  asked  the  minister  what  he  could  do. 
And  he  replied,  "  Well,  you  can  just  take  down  the  names 
of  some  ])eople  you  want  to  see  converted  and  pray  for 
them."  The  minister  went  away  and  forgot  all  about  it.  By 
and  by  the  interest  increased  in  his  church  and  one  man 
after  another  was  converted,  and  they  started  special  meet- 
ings, and  when  the  father  of  this  boy  went  home  the  little 
fellow  would  ask  if  such  a  one  was  converted,  and  if  the 
father  said  "  Yes,"  he  would  seem  greatly  rejoiced,  and  if  he 
said  "  No,"  he  would  turn  his  face  to  the  wall  and  pray.  At 
last  he  died,  and  among  his  papers  they  found  fifty-six  names 
of  persons  he  had  been  praying  for,  and  every  one  on  the  list 
had  been  converted.  What  a  blessed  work  !  Many  a  man 
has  lived  three  score  and  ten  and  never  accomplished  such  a 
work  as  that  bed-ridden  boy.  You  can  pray  this  morning  for 
others,  even  if  you  are  not  near  enough  to  speak  to  them. 
Let  us  call  upon  Heaven  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  come 
down  upon  us  in  mighty  power.  Another  thought  I  want  to 
speak  about  is,  that  we  want  to  work  with  the  right  motive. 


G  OD'  S  INS TR  UMENTALITIES. 


441 


We  don  t  want  to  build  up  our  sects  so  much,  but  to  forget 
our  self-interest  and  personal  prosperity  and  just  keep  our 
eyes  single  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  Christ's  kingdom.  I 
have  great  admiration  for  Mrs.  Comstock,  the  missionary  in 
India  who  desired  her  boys  to  be  educated  for  Christ's  work 
there,  but  could  not,  and  so  sent  them  to  this  country  to  be 
educated.  And  she  went  down  to  the  boat  that  was  to  take 
them  to  America,  and  just  before  it  was  time  for  it  to  leave 
she  knelt  down  upon  the  deck,  and  with  tears  streaming 
down  her  cheeks  she  said,  "  Lord  Jesus,  I  do  this  for  Thee." 
May  the  Lord  Jesus  give  us  a  passion  for  souls.  May  we 
all  work  for  Him  who  died  to  redeem  us,  and  come  to  Christ 
in  our  weakness,  and  we  will  be  strong  for  others,  and  if  they 
see  us  leading  pure  lives  it  will  have  great  influence  upon 
them.  Let  us  be  so  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  Master  that  no 
one  will  doubt  the  genuineness  of  our  Christianity. 
19* 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  the  verse  you  will  find  in 
the  1 8th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  Luke,  part  of 
the  2 2d  verse  : 

"  Now,  when  Jesus  heard  these  things  he  said  unto  him, 
Yet  lackest  thou  one  thing." 

This  young  ruler  was  a  lovely  character.  We  are  told  that 
even  the  Saviour  loved  him.  But  he  wanted  to  know  what 
he  should  do  to  "  inherit  eternal  life  ;  "  and  when  men  want 
to  do  something  to  inherit  eternal  life,  why,  then  they  are 
put  under  the  law,  and  the  only  thing  for  them  to  do  to  in- 
herit eternal  life  is  to  keep  the  law.  If  a  man  can  keep 
God's  law  without  breaking  it  he  can  be  saved,  for  he  is 
without  sin.  He  doesn't  need  to  ask  God  for  salvation. 
But  a  sinner  is  one  who  has  transgressed  the  law  of  God. 
This  young  man  was  like  a  great  many  nowadays.  He 
thought  he  had  never  transgressed  the  law,  and  when  he 
came  to  the  Lord  and  said,  "  Good  Master,  what  shall  I  do 
to  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  the  Lord  just  put  him  under  the 
law. 

"  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ?  None  is  good,  save  one, 
and  that  is  God. 

*"  Thou  knowest  the  commandments  :  Do  not  commit 
adultery,  Do  not  kill.  Do  not  steal,  Do  not  bear  false  wit- 
ness, Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother." 

But  he  said :  "  Lord,  all  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my 
youth  Lip."  The  Lord  saw  that  he  had  some  other  god  be- 
fore him,  and  He  told  him  :  "  Thou  slialt  have  no  other  God 
befoie  me." 


ONE   THING    THOU  LACKEST. 


443 


The  Lord  put  His  finger  on  that  very  sin,  and  He  told 
him  : 

"  Go  and  sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  distribute  unto  the 
poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  come,  fol- 
low me. 

"  And  when  he  heard  this  he  was  very  sorrowful  and  wen-t 
away." 

But  there  is  one  thing  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to,  and 
that  is,  "  One  thing  thou  lackest."  You  hear  people  say 
nowadays  about  a  certain  man,  "  He  is  very  kind,  very  be- 
nevolent, but  he  only  lacks  one  thing,  and  that  is  salvation," 
as  if  that  wasn't  enough  to  lack  !  If  a  man  lacks  salvation 
he  lacks  everything.  You  might  say  that  a  beggar  lacks  one 
thing — that  is  riches,  and  if  he  didn't  lack  that  one  thing  he 
wouldn't  lack  anything.  You  might  say  a  drunkard  lacked 
only  one  thing,  and  that  is  sobriety;  and  if  he  didn't  lack  that 
one  thing  he  would  be  a  sober  man.  You  might  say  a  leper 
lacks  only  one  thing,  and  that  is  to  get  rid  of  his  leprosy, 
and  then  he  would  be  clean.  You  might  go  further,  and  say 
tiiat  a  man  that  is  dead  only  lacks  one  thing  to  move  around, 
and  that  is  life.  Yet  it  would  be,  "  One  thing  thou  lackest." 
It  seems  to  me  a  very  solemn  thing  for  a  man  to  be  living 
in  a  day  like  this  without  salvation.  He  can't  tell  what  a 
day  may  bring  forth.  May  be  some  of  us  are  spending  our 
last  night  on  earth,  but  if  we  haven't  got  salvation  where  are 
we  going  to  spend  eternity  ?  The  question  is,  "  Have  I  got 
salvation?  Is  it  in  my  possession ?  Is  it  mine,  or  do  I 
lack  it  ?  "  If  you  lack  it  what  is  going  to  become  of  your 
soul  if  God  should  call  you  to  heaven  to-night  ?  You  may 
be  very  moral.  You  may  be  very  upright.  You  may  Ije 
very  virtuous.  You  may  be  pure  in  your  outward  life  ;  and 
because  of  that  think  you  can  be  saved  without  Christ.  But, 
then,  if  man  could  be  saved  without  Christ  what  did  Christ 
come  for  ?  If  man  could  work  out  his  own  salvation  without 
the  help  of  the  Sor  of  God,  then  why  did  Christ  come  into 


444 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE, 


the  world,  and  why  is  it  necessary  for  us  to  be  preaching 
salvation  through  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  Why 
not  go  to  work  and  preach  up  morality,  and  say,  ''  All  you 
have  got  to  do,  is  to  be  moral ;  all  you  have  got  to  do  is  to 
do  the  best  you  know  how,  and  the  Lord  will  save  you.  I 
tell  you  if  you  break  one  commandment,  you  break  the  whole 
law,  and  you  are  a  sinner  in  the  sight  of  God.  I  was  once 
reading  of  Whitefield  being  the  guest  of  a  very  moral,  upright 
man.  Whitefield  loved  this  man  very  much,  and  wished  to 
talk  with  him  about  his  soul,  but  he  was  a  very  hard  man  to 
approach.  Whitefield  tried  many  times  to  approach  him, 
but  could  not  succeed.  He  had  to  start  away  very  early 
the  next  morning  to  take  the  coach  and  leave  him,  never  to 
see  him,  perhaps,  in  this  world  again.  So  when  he  went  into 
his  room  he  saw  his  diamond  ring  there  and  took  it  and  cut 
right  into  the  glass,  "One  thing  thou  lackest,"  and  then  he 
prayed  God  that  that  night  the  man's  heart  might  be  soft- 
ened, and  that  some  time  his  eyes  might  rest  upon  it  and  it 
might  be  the  means  of  his  conversion.  And  it  did  lead  to 
the  conversion  of  that  man.  I  would  to  God  that  I  could 
say  something  to  you  to-night  that  might  cut  down  deep  into 
your  heart,  and  that  you  would  never  forget,  that  if  you  lack 
salvation,  you  lack  everything.  What's  rank  and  position  in 
this  world  when  we  come  to  die,  if  we  haven't  got  salvation  ? 
It  seems  to  me  it  would  be  better  if  we  had  never  been  born. 
If  you  had  held  a  high  position  for  twenty,  thirty,  forty,  or 
fifty  years — life  is  pretty  short — it  seems  it  would  be  pretty 
empty  if  you  hadn't  got  this  one  thing — salvation.  The  next 
thing  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  the  ninth  chapter  of 
John,  twenty-fifth  verse  :  "  One  thing  I  know,  whereas  I  was 
blind,  now  I  see."  Some  say  that  they  are  never  to  know 
down  in  this  world  here  whether  they  are  saved  or  not ;  that 
we  can't  know  until  we  get  to  the  great  white  throne  of 
judgment  to  find  it  out.  But  this  man  knew.  He  said, 
"  Whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.' 


ONE    THING  THOU  LACKEST.  445 

That  poor  blind  beggar  in  Jerusalem  was  about  as  wise  a 
man  as  they  had.  Blind  as  he  was,  we  find  that  when  his 
eyes  were  opened  he  could  go  out  and  see  what  took  place, 
and  they  couldn't  beat  him  down  that  he  wasn't  the  man 
that  was  restored  to  sight.  Then  it  says  we  must  follow 
*'  One  who  is  the  Master."  A  man  must  leave  father, 
mother,  wife,  and  children  and  follow  the  Lord — ^just  one 
Master.  Some  say  they  would  like  to  follow  the  Master, 
and  yet  follow  in  the  ways  of  the  world.  I  tell  you,  you 
can't  do  it. 


CONFESSION— THE  KEY  TO  SALVATION. 


i  WILL  read  part  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Romans  : 

"Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israc. 
is,  that  they  might  be  saved. 

"  For  1  bear  them  record  that  they  have  a  zeal  of  God, 
but  not  according  to  knowledge. 

'•  For  they,  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  and 
going  about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  have  not 
submitted  themselves  unto  the  righteousness  of  God." 

I  think  you  will  find  a  great  many  men  stumble  right  there. 
Instead  of  submitting  to  the  righteousness  of  God,  they  are 
all  the  time  going  about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness. 

*'  For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to 
every  one  that  believeth. 

"  For  Moses  describeth  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the 
law,  That  the  man  which  doeth  those  things  shall  live  by 
them. 

"  But  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on  this 
wise,  Say  not  in  thy  heart,  Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven  ? 
(that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above :) 

"  Or,  Who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  (that  is,  to  bring 
up  Christ  again  from  the  dead.) 

*'  But  what  saith  it  ?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy 
mouth,  and  in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith  which  we 
preach  : 

"  That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus 
and  shalt  beUeve  in  thy  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from 
the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

I  called  your  attention  to  that  truth  yesterday.  I  want  to 
call  your  -tttention  back  to  it  to-day,  and  I  want  to  keep  this 
right  Uifore  all  these  men  that  are  trying  to  take  their  stand 
now  on  the  Lord's  side  that  there  is  one  thi?ig  you  nmst  do, 


CONFESSION— THE  KEY  TO   SALVATION.        447 

and  that  is  to  confess  the  Lord  Jesus.  You  that  heard  Gen- 
eral Swift  yesterday  will  bear  in  mind  that  he  said  that  he 
was  going  to  be  a  secret  disciple.  I  think  there  are  a  good 
many  in  Boston  that  are  trying  that  very  thing  now.  They 
are  not  willing  to  confess  with  their  mouth  and  take  their 
stand  on  the  Lord's  side,  yet  they  are  wondering  they  do  not 
get  the  light  that  people  talk  about.  The  light  will  not  come 
till  they  come  out  boldly  and  let  the  world  know  who  they 
are  and  whose  side  they  are  on. 

"  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness  ; 
and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation. 

"  For  the  Scripture  saith,  Whosoever  believeth  on  hitii 
shall  not  be  ashamed." 

That's  the  test.  If  they  believe  in  His  name  they  would 
not  be  ashamed  of  it.  We  may  be  ashamed  of  ourselves-- 
and  I  think  the  more  we  know  of  ourselves  the  more  we  will 
be  ashamed  of  ourselves — but  not  be  ashamed  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

As  I  was  telling  up  to  the  Tabernacle  the  other  day,  a 
man  who  was  converted  went  out  and  began  to  preach. 
Some  sneering  infidel  says,  "  Young  man,  you  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  yourself."  "Well,"  says  he,  "I  am  ashamed  of 
myself,  but  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Let  us  not  be  ashamed  of  Him  who  gave  His  life  for  us — 
who  has  redeemed  us  with  His  own  precious  blood.  The 
Scripture  says,  "  Whosoever  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be 
ashamed."  If  a  man  is  ashamed  it  is  a  sign  he  does  not  be- 
lieve with  his  own  heart.  A  man  must  be  willing  to  be  a  fool 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world  for  Christ's  sake. 

"  For  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  and  the 
Greek  ;  for  the  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that  call 
upon  him. 

"  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  saved. 

"  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have  not 
believed  ?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they 


448 


TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 


have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher  ? 

*'  And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent  ?  as  it 
is  written,  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach 
the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things. 

"  But  they  have  not  all  obeyed  the  gospel.  For  Esaias 
saith.  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report  ? 

"  So  then,  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the 
Word  of  God." 

We  find  a  great  many  that  talk  about  their  faith  being 
very  weak,  and  they  pray  that  God  may  strengthen  their 
faith  and  give  them  more  faith.  I  wish  I  had  spent  a  little 
more  time  during  the  first  years  of  my  Christian  experience 
in  studying  the  Bible.  Now  faith  comes  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  comes  by  the  Word  of  God.  Suppose  I  had  met  a 
man  ten  years  ago.  I  might  not  have  much  faith  in  him,  be- 
cause I  could  not  know  much  about  him.  But  if  afterwards 
I  silent  a  great  deal  of  time  with  him,  and  I  found  him  to  be 
a  good,  true  man,  of  course,  I  should  have  more  faith  in  him. 
So  the  more  a  man  knows  of  God,  the  more  faith  he.  will 
have  in  Him.  These  men  that  haven't  any  faith  in  God 
don't  know  God.  A  man  must  know  the  will  of  God  before 
lie  can  know  His  doctrine.  If  a  man  is  not  willing  to  be 
taught  by  God,  if  he  is  not  willing  to  be  His  disciple,  he  can 
never  know  anything  about  God.  Instead  of  all  the  time 
mourning  about  the  weakness  of  our  faith,  let  us  get  better 
acquainted  with  the  word  of  God,  and  our  faith  will  grow  as 
we  get  better  acquainted  with  the  Bible.  Another  thing  :  if 
we  have  a  little  faith  we  can  do  a  great  deal  with  it.  There 
was  a  Scotchwoman  once  who  was  noted  for  her  faith.  A 
person  said  to  her,  "  I  believe  you  are  the  woman  with  great 
faith  ?  "  She  answered,  "  I  am  a  woman  with  a  little  faith, 
but  with  a  great  God."  It  was  a  personal  God  that  she  be- 
lieved in.  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  first  verse  of 
the  107th  Psalm.  "  O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  is 
good,  for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever.     Let  the  redeemed 


CONFESSION— THE   KEY  TO   SALVATION       449 

of  the  Lord  say  so,  whom  he  hath  redeemed  from  the  hand 
of  the  enemy."  A  young  convert  got  up  the  other  night, 
and  the  only  part  of  the  Bible  he  knew  was  just  to  give 
thanks  to  God.  "  Praise  the  Lord,  O  my  soul."  That  was 
the  verse.  I  would  to  God  that  every  young  man  and  every 
young  woman  who  has  been  redeemed  from  the  hand  of  the 
enemy  would  jusi;  say  so.  Now  is  the  time  to  come  out  and 
show  your  colors,  and  let  the  world  know  whose  side  you 
are  on.  We  will  sing  a  song,  and  then  let  every  man  who 
has  been  redeemed  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy  say  so. 

It  is  not  the  most  fluent  man  who  is  always  the  most  ac- 
ceptable with  Christ ;  it  is  the  one  who  tells  the  truth.  It 
isn't  orators  we  want,  but  just  witnesses  for  Christ. 


JOHN    THE    BAPTIST. 


You  that  have  been  here  the  last  two  Sunday  mornings 
remember  I  have  been  talking  about  Christ.  The  first  Sun- 
day it  was  ^'Christ  in  the  Old  Testament."'  Last  Sunday  it 
was  "  Christ  in  the  New  Testament,"  and  we  left  Huii  in 
P'.gypt.  To-day  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  John,  His 
forerunner.  On  hearing  the  news  of  the  death  of  the  king, 
Joseph  brings  Him  back  to  Nazareth,  and  there  He  remained 
for  thirty  years.  I  once  read  of  the  founder  of  the  Russian 
Empire  going  down  to  a  Dutch  seaport  as  a  stranger,  in  dis- 
guise, that  he  might  learn  how  to  build  ships ;  that  he  might  go 
back  and  teach  it  to  his  own  subjects.  People  have  wondered 
at  that ;  but  this  is  a  greater  wonder,  that  the  Prince  of 
Glory  should  come  down  here  and  learn  the  carpenter's 
trade.  He  was  not  only  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  but  He  was 
a  carpenter  Himself.  His  father  was  a  carpenter,  and  He 
was  a  carpenter  too,  for  we  read  that  they  brought  it  up 
against  Him  that  He  was  a  carpenter.     We  read  : 

'•  And  when  he  was  come  into  his  own  country,  he 
taught  them  in  their  synagogue,  insomuch  that  they  were 
astonished,  and  said,  Whence  hath  this  man  this  wisdom^  and 
these  mighty  works  ? 

"  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son?  " 

]     And  right  here  is  one  lesson  that  we  ought  to  learn,  and 

jthat  is,  when  Christ  was  here  He   was   an  industrious  man. 

.'And  I  have  often  said  on  this  platform  that  I  never  knew  yet  a 
I  lazy  man  to  be  converted.  If  he  was,  he  soon  gave  up  his 
I  laziness.     I  tell  you  that  laziness  does  not  belong  to  Christ's 

Kingdom.       I  don't  believe  a  man  would  have  a  lazy  hair  in 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST.  45 1 

his  head  if  he  was  converted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If  ^ 
man  has  really  been  born  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  he  isn't  lazyj 
he  wants  to  find  something  to  do,  and  any  manual  labor  is 
not  degrading.  It  is  honorable,  and  if  our  Master,  who  was 
the  Prince  of  Peace  and  the  King  of  Glory,  could  leave 
heaven  and  come  down  here  and  work  as  a  village  carpenter, 
don't  let  us  think  that  manual  labor  is  beneath  our  notice. 
Let  us  be  willing  to  go  out  and  work.  If  we  can't  find  what 
we  want,  let  us  do  what  we  can.  If  we  can  earn  only 
twenty-five  cents  a  day,  let  us  earn  that  rather  than  do 
nothing.  A  good  many  are  always  waiting  for  something  to 
turn  up,  instead  of  going  out  and  turning  up  something— 
looking  for  it  and  finding  it.  Let  me  say  to  young  converts 
right  here,  if  you  want  to  get  power  and  strength  from  God, 
you  have  got  to  find  something  to  do,  something  to  occupy 
your  minds.  A  great  many  i>eople  are  all  the  time  in  dark- 
ness and  in  trouble  about  spiritual  matters  because  they 
haven't  got  anything  to  do  spiritually.  Now,  we  not  only 
want  something  to  occupy  our  hands,  but  our  minds.  But 
that  is  not  the  point  of  the  lecture  this  morning.  I  want  to 
go  back  to  these  two  wonderful  men.  The  thirty  years  have 
rolled  away,  and  it  is  now  time  that  this  wonderful  Messiah 
should  come  unto  the  nation.  The  Scripture  has  been  ful- 
filled, and  the  first  sound  we  hear  of  His  coming  is  that 
strange  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness.  Those  thirty  years 
that  have  just  expired  were  nothing  to  the  nation.  Un- 
doubtedly, these  rumors  about  those  two  children  that  created 
a  great  sensation  at  the  time  had  died  out.  The  story  of  the 
shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  had  gone  out  of  their 
recollection — faded  away.  The  story  of  this  child  being 
brought  into  the  temple,  and  that  old  man  and  that  old 
woman  coming  in  there  just  at  the  time — that  wonderful 
scene  had  faded  away.  Many  that  were  at  the  temple  at 
that  time  had  gone.  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth  had  passed 
away,  and  the  Roman  Empire  had  also  died,  after  sending 


452  'rO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

out  this  decree — that  the  country  should  be  taxed.  Herod 
was  also  dead.  A  great  change  had  taken  place  in  thirty 
years.  You  just  carry  your  minds  back  through  thirty  years, 
and  see  how  many  that  stood  with  you  thirty  years  ago,  with 
whom  you  were  acquainted,  have  gone,  and  are  now  sleep- 
ing in  their  graves.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  hadn't  come  after 
Christ  went  to  heaven,  the  story  of  His  death  and  His  resur- 
rection would  have  been  forgotten  as  soon  as  His  birth  and 
His  life.  No  doubt  about  that.  It  is  that  which  has  kept 
the  memory  of  Christ  in  the  world,  and  His  name  so  fresh 
and  fragrant.  The  Holy  Ghost  has  come  down  here  to  keep 
in  our  minds  the  glory  and  beauty  of  Christ.  Now,  we 
find  His  forerunner  comes.  Matthew  says  :  "In  those  days 
come  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in  the  wilderness."  Mark 
says  :  "  The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness."  Luke 
says  :  "The  word  of  God  came  unto  John,  the  son  of  Zacha- 
rias,  in  the  wilderness."  And  John's  account  is:  "There 
was  a  man  sent  from  God,  whose  name  was  John."  The 
last  prophet  had  closed  up  his  prophecy  by  saying  that  John 
should  come  before  the  Messiah ;  that  he  should  be  the 
herald  who  should  come  to  introduce  Him.  Now,  these  four 
evangelists  all  take  up  their  pens,  and  all  notice  it.  You 
know  if  you  let  any  four  men  write  up  any  one  thing  they 
will  not  all  write  about  it  alike.  Why,  just  the  last  year, 
when  men  went  to  the  Centennial,  not  any  four  of  them 
wrote  about  it  alike.  Let  a  man  come  in  here  and  let 
any  four  of  us  look  at  him — one  will  get  a  side  view 
of  him,  one  a  front  view,  and  so  on,  and  not  any  of  the 
four  will  see  him  alike.  So  these  evangeHsts  wrote  about 
John  ;  but  not  one  of  the  four  used  the  same  language.  You 
know  it  was  said  he  was  to  be  Hke  Elijah,  Well,  he  looked 
like  him,  dressed  like  him,  and  his  preaching  was  like  him. 
He  came  suddenly,  unexpectedly,  upon  the  world,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  his  voice  rang  clear  through  the  whole 
nation,  and  the   whole   nation  was  stirred.     He  stood  be- 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST.  455 

tween  the  two  dispensations.  He  was  the  last  prophet  the 
new  dispensation  was  to  have.  They  had  had  some  mighty 
prophets — wonderful  men  ;  but  this  man  was  to  be  the  last 
one.  Now  we  find  this  man  standing  there,  as  it  were,  be- 
tween these  two  dispensations,  and  when  he  first  commenced 
to  preach  it  was  very  much  like  that  of  Elijah's.  He  was  a 
reformer.  "  Repent  !  Repent !  "  that  was  his  cry.  "  Re- 
form !  Reform  !  "  that  was  his  cry.  But  if  he  had  stopped 
there  his  reform  would  have  died  out  with  him.  A  great 
many  reformations  die  out  with  the  reformers  because  they 
cry  "  Repent  !  Repent !  Reform  !  Reform  !  "  but  they 
do  not  get  any  further  than  that.  But,  thank  God,  John  had 
something  else  to  tell  them.  He  didn't  stop  at  "  Repent  ! 
repent  !  "  but  he  kept  telling  them  there  was  One  coming 
mightier  than  he  himself.  That's  the  way  to  preach  the 
gospel  now.  (Cries  of  "  Amen.")  We  are  to  preach  not  only 
that  Christ  has  come,  and  gone  back  to  heaven,  but  is 
coming  back  again.  (Cries  of  "  Amen,  amen.")  That  though 
He  died.  He  is  going  to  return.  Undoubtedly  that  was  what . 
thrilled  the  nation.  Talk  about  sensation.  There  was  nevei 
a  nation  moved  as  that  one  nation  was  moved  by  John  the  | 
Baptist.  Now,  people,  if  they  want  to  stir  a  town  or  city, 
they  want  to  influence  the  leading  men  of  the  city  to  stand 
around  them,  help  them,  and  pray  for  them.  But  here  stood 
this  man  preaching  in  the  wilderness  without  any  influence  of 
your  committee.  He  didn't  have  Mr.  Sankey  to  sing  for 
him  to  draw  the  people.  No,  he  stood  there  on  the  banks  of 
the  Jordan  alone,  preaching  the  glorious  tidings  that  the  Mes-> 
siah  was  coming  after  him,  and  he  probably  was  preaching 
this  to  the  lowest  beggar  in  the  land.  There  he  was  in  the 
wilderness,  dressed  like  his  predecessor,  Elijah.  There  he 
was  preaching  in  the  wilderness,  and  just  bear  in  mind  it 
wasn't  any  milk  and  water  preaching.  He  gave  the  message 
just  as  God  gave  it  to  him.  I  suppose  if  he  had  had  some 
of  the  present  Christians  in  Boston   there   they  would  have 


4')4 

\ 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


\said,  "Don't  be  so  bold  ;  be  mild  about  it.     Yon  know  you 
jniust  use  a  little  moderation,  don't  you,  about  this  ?     Come, 
if  you  talk  against  these   Pharisees   they  will  cut  your  head 
(off."     But  that  didn't  enter  his  mind.     It  wasn't  what  they 
'  wanted.     It  was  what  God  gave  him  to  deliver,  and  if  any 
man  just  takes  the  message  and  believes  it  as  God  gives  it  to 
him,  I  tell  you  God  will  stand  by  him.     He  is  going  to  suc- 
ceed, mind  that.     He  may  be  unsuccessful  at  first,  his  labor 
may   seem  to   be   unprofitable  for  a  time,  and  people  may 
turn  away,  but  the   time  will  come  when  his  words  will  cut 
deep  down  into  their  hearts  and  lead   them   to  salvation, 
I  Then  the  people  began  to  tremble.     They  didn't  have  any 
'  newspapers  then  to  print  the  sermons,  they  didn't  have  any 
telegraph  wires  to  flash  it  over  the  country,  but  one  man  just 
took  it  up  and  passed  it  to  the  next,  and  so  on,  and  very  soon 
I  it  was  over  the  whole   country.      "  There  he  is,"  they  said, 
1  "dressed  just  like  Elijah,  with  his  leathern  girdle  and  his 
raiment  of  camel's  hair."     He  comes  out  about  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and   there  he   stands   on   the  banks  of  the 
j  Jordan,  and  there  he  speaks.     Day  after  day  he  is  seen  there, 
'and  his  cry  is  "  Repent !  Repent  !  "     And  that  was  his  cry. 
Well,  it  is  not  long  before   every  town,  and   every  city,  and 
every  village  has  heard   of  this  wonder.     He  preached  the 
law  just    as  it  was  given  him,    and    as    a  specimen  of  his 
preaching  just  read  this.     See  how  bold  he  was  : 

"  Then  said  he  to  the  multitude  that  came  forth  to  be 
baptized  of  him,  O  generation  of  vipers." 

O  generation  of  vipers.  Pretty  hard  talk,  wasn't  it?  I 
don't  know  as  you  could  get  many  people  into  this  Taber- 
nacle by  such  talk  as  that.  But  he  knew  what  he  was 
doing.  He  knew  they  hated  his  Master.  He  knew  that 
away  down  in  their  hearts  they  were  at  enmity  with  God. 
Some  men  preach  now  that  men  are  born  in  the  grace  of 
God,   and   that   theiefore    they  don't    need  to   receive   any 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST.  455 

grace  from  on  high ;  that  everybody  is  going  to  be  saved, 
and  God  isn't  going  to  send  a  man  to  hell,  if  we  were 
born  in  sin.  But  just  read  a  Httle  further  and  see  what  he 
said  : 

"  O  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from' 
the  wrath  to  come  ?  " 

"  Bring  forth  therefore  fruits  worthy  of  repentance,  and 
begin  not  to  say  within  yourselves,  We  have  Abraham  to  our 
father ;  for  I  say  unto  you,  That  God  is  able  of  these  stones 
to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham." 

He  knew  the  men  pretty  well ;  I  don't  know  where  he 
had  been  all  these  thirty  years;  but.  he  had  found  out  the 
human  heart — he  had  found  out  human  nature  pretty  well. 
And  those  people  undoubtedly  said,  "  We  belong  to  the  seed 
of  Abraham  ;  we  are  the  descendants  of  Abraham  ;  we  don't 
need  to  be  converted  ;  we've  got  the  law  from  Moses,  and 
we  obey  that.  Let  these  poor  dogs  of  Gentiles  be  con- 
verted. It  isn't  for  us."  And  that's  just  the  doctrine  now. 
"We  don't  need  to  be  converted;  John  was  a  first-rate 
reformer.  Oh,  yes  ;  but  that  don't  touch  us.  We  go  to  church 
regularly.  It  is  for  these  publicans  and  harlots.  That  kind 
of  preaching  is  not  for  us.  Oh,  it's  all  good  enough — all  very 
good."  And  no  doubt  they  would  put  up  a  Tabernacle  for 
them — for  the  harlots  and  drunkards  to  go  to.  "  Oh,  no, 
that  preaching  is  not  for  us.  It's  good  enough  for  them,  but 
we  don't  need  to  go.  We  are  the  seed  of  Abraham.  We 
belong  to  Moses,  and  we  are  not  such  bad  men.  What  do 
you  mean  by  conversion?  We  don't  need  to  be  born  again. 
What  do  we  need  to  be  born  again  for  ?  We  pay  our  debts. 
We  are  good  men."  See,  that  same  old  spirit.  Eighteen 
hundred  years  have  rolled  away,  and  you  find  human  nature 
the  same.     John  knew  them  pretty  well. 

"  I  say  unto  you  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise 
up  children  unto  Abraham." 

You  needn't  flatter  yourselves  that  you  are  better  than  the 


456  TO  ALL  PEOPLE, 

other  people.     God  can  make  children  right   out  of  these 
stones,  and  make  them  the  seed  of  Abraham. 

"  And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  tree  ; 
every  tree,  therefore,  which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is 
hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire. 

"And  the  people  asked  him,  saying.  What  shall  we  do 
then  ?  " 

See,  they  had  an  inquiry  meeting  right  there  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan. 

*'  He  answereth  and  saith  unto  them  :  He  that  hath  two 
coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none ;  and  he  that 
hath  meat,  let  him  do  likewise. 

"  Then  came  also  publicans  to  be  baptized,  and  said  unto 
him  :  Master,  what  shall  we  do  ? 

"  And  he  said  unto  them :  Exact  no  more  than  that  which 
is  appointed  you. 

"And  the  soldiers  likewise  demanded  of  him,  saying  :  And 
what  shall  we  do  ?  And  he  said  unto  them  :  Do  violence  to 
no  man,  neither  accuse  any  falsely;  and  be  content  with 
your  wages." 

Now,  that  was  his  preaching  up  to  the  time  that  Christ 
came.  As  I  said  before,  it  was  "  Repent !  Repent !  Reform  ! 
Reform  ! "  And  you  may  tell  these  men  they  ought  to  do 
better;  but  if  you  don't  tell  them  how,  you  can't  save  them. 
Now  we  find  here,  in  this  fifteenth  verse,  that  they  were 
looking  for  something  more. 

"And  as  the  people  were  in  expectation,  and  all  men 
mused  in  their  hearts  of  John,  whether  he  were  the  Christ 
or  not ; 

"  John  answered,  saying  unto  them  all,  I,  indeed,  baptize 
you  with  water ;  but  one  mightier  than  I  cometh,  the  latcliet 
of  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose  :  he  shall  baptize 
you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  : 

"  Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his 
lloor,  and  will  gather  the  wheat  into  his  garner  ;  but  the  chaff 
he  will  burn  with  fire  unquenchable. 

"And  many  other  things  in  his  exhortation  preached  he 
unto  the  people." 


JOHN   THE  BAPTIST.  457 

Now,  what  a  chance  there  was  for  John  to  have  let  self 
come  in.     When  people  were  wondering  in  their  hearts  if  he 
was  not  the  true  Messiah,  if  he  wasn't  Christ,  he  might  have 
been  tempted  to  come  out  and  say  he  was  more  than  him- 
self— that  he  was  Christ.     But  there  is  one  thing  about  this) 
man — he  never  preached  up  self.     He  was    preparing    thel 
nation  to  receive  the  Lord  of  Glory.     He  had   come  justi 
merely  to  introduce  him.     He  was  nothing.     Just  as  a  man: 
comes  and  introduces  a  friend  to  you,  he  just  barely  intro- 
duces him  and  steps  aside.     He  dosen't  put  himself  forward. 
So  John  introduces  the  Son  of  God,  and  then  begins  to  fade 
away,  and  soon  he  was  gone.     He  hadn't  come  to  introduce 
himself,  but  to  preach  Christ.     And  let  me  say  right  here, 
that  is  the  very  height  of  preaching.     If  we  can  only  get  our 
eyes  oft"  of  self  and  get  them  fixed  on  Christ,  if  people  would 
only  stop  thinking  about  their  minister  and  look  at  God, 
then  we  could  do  what  we  wished  to  accomplish.     Oh,  I  hate 
to  hear  people  saying,  "  Oh,  what  an  eloquent  sermon  !  Did 
you  ever  hear  anything  like  it  ?  " — talking  about  the  preacher's 
eloquence,  and  not  about  the  sermon.     Away  with  it !   What 
we  want  to  get  at  is  our  Master.    (Cries  of  "Amen.")  Whea 
they  begin  to  wonder  who  he  is,  he  just  comes  right  out  and 
says:   "I  am  not  Jesus.     I  am  only  just  one  sent  to  intro- 
duce  Him.     I   have   come  for  that   purpose.     I   have   not 
come  to  preach  up  myself,  but  Him  that  is  mighty  to  save.'' 
And  then  we  find  that  while  his  star  was  just  at  its  heightj 
while  he  was  just  about  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  while  peo-  . 
pie  were  flocking  in  from  the  towns  and  villages  to  hear  him, 
the  chief  rulers  of  Jerusalem  send  down  a  deputation,  the 
same  as  the   Pope   of  Rome,  to  inquire  what  this  religiou 
meant.     They  appointed  some  influeniial  men  to  find  him  ; 
out,  and  they  said  to  him,  "  We  have  been  sent  by  the  chief ' 
priest  of  Jerusalem  to  find  out  who  you  are.    Are  you  Christ  ?  " 
And  John  told  them,  "  No."     "  Well,  who  are  you  ?    Are  you 
this  man  or  that  man?"      "No."      "Are  you  this  prophet 
20  \ 


458  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

\o\  that  prophet?"  "No,"  "Well,  who  are  you?"  Did 
he  say,  "  I  am  Jesus  ? "  No.  "  Merely  Mr.  Nobody ; 
merely  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness."  What  a  message 
that  was  to  send  back  to  Jerusalem  !  He  was  not  trying  to 
put  himself  forward.  He  was  all  the  time  trying  to  get  out 
of  self.  In  the  nineteenth  verse,  first  chapter  of  John,  it 
says  : 

"  And  this  is  the  record  of  John,  when  the  Jews  sent 
priests  and  Levites  from  Jerusalem  to  ask  him,  Who  art 
thou  ? 

"  And  he  confessed,  and  denied  not ;  but  confessed,  I  am 
not  the  Christ. 

"  And  they  asked  him.  What  then  ?  Art  thou  Elias  ?  And 
he  saith,  I  am  not.  Art  thou  the  prophet?  And  he  an- 
swered, No. 

"Then  said  they  unto  him,  Who  art  thou?  that  we  may 
give  an  answer  to  them  that  sent  us.  What  sayest  thou  of 
tl.yself? 

"  He  said,  I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord,  as  said  the  prophet 
Esaias. 

"  And  they  which  were  sent  were  of  the  Pharisees. 

"  And  they  asked  him,  and  said  unto  him.  Why  bap- 
tizest  thou,  then,  if  thou  be  not  Christ,  nor  Elias,  neither 
that  prophet  ? 

"  John  answered  them,  saying,  I  baptize  with  water  :  but 
there  standeth  one  among  you,  whom  ye  know  not; 

"  He  it  is,  who,  coming  after  me,  is  preferred  before  me, 
whose  shoe's  latchet  I  am  unworthy  to  unloose. 

"  These  things  were  done  in  Bethabara,  beyond  Jordan, 
where  John  was  baptizing." 

Now,  this  was  the  day,  I  say,  when  John  was  at  the  very 
j  zenith  of  his  glory;  but  see  how  noble  he  stood.  He  didn't 
jtake  any  honor  or  glory  to  himself,  and  in  two  different 
'places  he  declared  that  he  knew  not  this  Stranger  that  he 
!  was  the  herald  of — his  Messiah.  Some  are  trying  to  make 
out  that  this  was  all  planned  by  John  and  Jesus,  that  he 
should  sa>  ho  didn't  know  Him.     But  he  declares  in  two 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST.  459 

places  that  he  didn't  know  Him.  They  were  brought  up  in 
two  extremes  of  the  country — one  in  the  northern  part  of  it, 
and  the  other  in  the  southern  part  of  it ;  one  was  born  at 
Nazareth,  and  the  other  at  Hebron,  Talk  about  eloquence  ! 
John  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men,  I  suppose,  that 
ever  lived.  He  was  the  herald  of  God,  and  when  the  nation 
was  in  a  terrible  state  of  excitement,  and  the  chief  priests  of 
Jerusalem,  and  even  the  King  himself,  went  to  hear  him. 
There  he  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan.  I  can  see  the 
men  and  women  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  little  children, 
mothers  with  their  babes  in  their  arms,  all  intensely  excited, 
all  leaning  forward  to  catch  what  he  says.  "  Now,"  he 
says,  "if  you  believe  what  I  say,  that  if  you  have  broken  the 
law  given  at  Sinai  you  have  sinned,  and  to  be  forgiven  you 
must  repent  and  come  down  into  this  Jordan,  and  I  will 
baptize  you  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  Hebron,"  And  they 
go  in  by  scores  and  hundreds,  and  there  he  baptized  them, 
and  as  he  stood  there  baptizing  I  can  imagine  about  20,000 
people  hanging  upon  his  lips.  There  was  a  man  came  down 
through  the  crowd.  I  can  imagine  that  John  was  a  man 
who  looked  as  though  he  was  more  like  a  mountain  eagle, 
but  his  wings  seemed  to  droop  ;  that  eye  that  had  been  so 
keen  and  so  severe  on  the  Israelites  when  he  called  them  a 
generation  of  vipers  ;  his  face  fell  and  he  shook  his  head  as 
this  Stranger  came.  I  suppose  as  He  came  walking  along 
towards  John,  God  revealed  it  to  him,  "  This  is  My  Son ; 
this  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world  ;  this  is  the  Prince  of  Peace." 
And  when  John  saw  Him  he  quailed  before  Him,  and  he 
said,  ''  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee."  What  excite- 
ment !  How  it  must  have  thrilled  t*he  audience  as  John 
drew  back  and  said  :  "  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee." 
John  knew  Him.  John  recognized  Him.  He  knew  He  was 
the  promised  One  of  the  law.  John  said :  "  I  have  need  to 
be  baptized  of  Thee,  and  comest  Thou  to  me  ?  "  But  Jesus 
said  :  *'  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now,  that  the  law  may  be  fulfilled." 


460  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

Now,  what  excitement  as  these  two  men  wen»t  clown  in  the 
/river  together. 

Oh,  if  Jordan  could  speak,  it  could  tell  some  wonderful 
stories.  Wonderful  scenes  had  taken  place  there.  Naaman 
had  gone  into  that  river  and  washed,  and  come  forth  clean. 
Elijah  going  up  with  his  mantle  struck  the  water  and  went 
over  dry-shod,  as  also  did  Elisha  after  Elijah  had  ascended. 
But  a  more  wonderful  scene  was  taking  place  in  Jordan  than 
ever  took  place  before.  Our  Lord  was  going  down  in  Jordan 
to  be  baptized,  and  He  was  going  to  come  up  on  resurrection 
ground.  So  He  goes  down  with  John  the  Baptist,  and  the 
moment  He  was  baptized  and  came  up  out  of  the  water,  the 
heavens  were  opened  unto  Him,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  de- 
scended upon  Him  like  a  dove,  and  lighted  upon  Him. 
Heaven  witnessed  the  scene.  God  the  Father  spoke  then. 
He  broke  the  silence  of  ages.  The  God  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  the  Christ  of  the  New.  And  he  heard  a  voice 
from  heaven  saying,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased."  Some  one  says  that  that  was  the  first 
time  that  God  could  look  down  on  earth  since  Adam  fell,  and 
say  that  He  was  well  pleased.  In  Hebrews,  tenth  chapter, 
seventh  verse.     It  says  : 

"  Lo,  I  come  (in  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of 
Me),  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God." 

He  was  the  Son  that  was  born  above.  He  hadn't  broken 
the  law.  He  had  no  need  to  go  down  there.  He  went  for 
us,  and  when  He  came  up  out  of  the  water  a  voice  came  out 
of  heaven,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well' 
pleased."  Now,  some  tell  us  they  see  nothing  supernatural 
about  Christ.  As  I  tried  to  show  last  Sunday  morning 
everything  that  took  place,  from  His  birth  right  along  up,  was 
supernatural.  Just  look  at  it.  The  heavens  opened  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  Him.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  down  on  Him,  and  God  owns  Him,  recognizes  Him. 


JOHN   THE  BAPTIST,  461 

Now,  another  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to. 
John's  preaching  changed ;  but  he  was  not  like  a  good  many 
men  nowadays,  who  want  to  reform  the  world  without 
Christ,  who  set  a  good  example,  and  tell  men  to  sign  pledges 
and  to  do  this  or  that  and  trust  in  their  own  strength.  The 
moment  he  got  his  eye  on  Christ  he  had  one  text :  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world." 
That's  how  you  are  going  to  get  rid  of  your  sins.  Says  he  :  "I 
bear  record  of  this  in  the  Son  of  God."  And  he  told  his 
disciples,  ''  Now,  you  follow  Hun.  Go  with  Him."  And 
one  afternoon,  as  he  sat  there  with  his  disciples,  he  said  : 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,"  and  they  left  him  to  follow  Him 
— two  of  his  own  disciples.  I  tell  you  that's  something  you 
don't  like  to  do — to  have  your  friends  leave  you ;  to  preach 
them  away — your  own  congregation.  But  now  this  man  begins 
to  ask  his  disciples  to  leave  him.  "  Why,"  said  he,  ''  I  tell 
you  I  am  not  worthy  to  just  unloose  His  shoes.  He  is  more 
worthy  than  I  am.  Follow  Him."  He  began  to  preach  up 
Christ.  "  He  must  increase  ;  I  must  decrease."  Would  to 
God  we  had  10,000  such  preachers  in  America  to-day. 
(Cries  of  "Amen!  amen!")  "He  must  increase,  but  1 
must  decrease.  If  I  am  not  lifted  up,  I  'vill  draw  uj)  His 
gospel."  But  the  trouble  is  we  want  to  lift  up  o\u-selves.  We 
want  to  lift  up  this  creed,  this  party,  this  doctrine.  Oh,  may 
God  sweep  it  away  (cries  of  "  Amen  !  amen  !  ")  and  help  us 
to  lift  up  the  gospel  of  Christ.  That's  what  this  world  wants, 
and  John  knew  it.  So  he  cried,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  Some  of  his  dis- 
ciples came  to  him  one  day  and  said,  "  You  know  that  Man 
you  baptized  there  over  in  the  Jordan  ?  More  men  are  com- 
ing to  Him  than  are  to  you."  That  was  jealousy — old  envy 
rankling  in  those  men's  bosom.  But  what  did  he  say  ?  "I 
told  you  that  I  wasn't  He.  Why,  He  must  increase,  and  I 
must  decrease.  That's  right.  I  would  rather  see  the  crowd 
flocking  to  hear  Him."  Oh,  that  we  had  more  such  men — more 


462  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

of  such  feeling  (cries  of  "  Amen  !  amen  !"),  that  we  might  be 
just  nothing,  and  Christ  everything  !  And  then  John,  I  think, 
was  terribly  abused  by  some  one.  He  was  cast  into  prison, 
and  he  sent  two  of  his  disciples  to  inquire  of  Christ  if  He  was 
the  true  Messiah,  or  should  he  look  for  another.  I  don't 
know,  but  I  have  an  idea  that  he  wanted  his  disciples  to  leave 
him  and  go  over  to  Jesus.  So  he  called  two  of  his  most  in- 
fluential disciples  and  told  them,  "  Now,  you  go  and  ask 
Him  if  He  is  the  true  Messiah."  I  can't  believe  in  his 
faith  wavering ;  but  if  he  was  wavering  he  took  the  best 
way,  and  sent  these  men  to  ask  our  Saviour.  I  see  his 
deputation  arrive,  and  when  He  got  through  preaching 
these  disciples  come  up  and  say,  "  Our  master  has  sent  us 
to  ask  if  you  are  the  true  Messiah ;  and  shall  he  look  for 
another?" 

Jesus  goes  on  healing  the  sick,  causing  the  lame  to  leap,  giv- 
ing sight  to  the  blind,  making  the  deaf  to  hear,  and  after  He 
had  gone  on  performing  these  miracles,  says  He,  "You  go 
back  and  tell  your  master  what  you  have  seen  and  what  you 
have  heard.  Go  back  and  tell  John  that  the  blind  see ;  that 
the  deaf  hear ;  that  the  lame  walk,  and  that  the  poor  have 
the  gospel  preached  to  them."  (Cries  of  "Amen  !  amen  !  ") 
When  John  heard  that  in  prison,  that  settled  all  his  doubts. 
His  disciples  believed,  and  the  poor  had  the  gospel  preached 
to  them.  That  was  the  test,  and  John's  disciples  one  after 
another  left  him.  And  now  we  find  him  thrown  in  prison. 
There  he  is  in  prison,  waiting  his  appointed  time.  Just  bear 
in  mind  God  had  sent  him.  His  work  was  done.  He  had 
only  just  come  to  announce  the  Saviour — only  for  that  object. 
Some  think  that  Christ's  treatment  of  John  was  rather  hard, 
rather  harsh ;  but  the  greatest  tribute  ever  paid  to  any  man 
was  paid  by  Jesus  to  John. 

''But  what  went  ye  out  for  to  see?  A  man  clothed  in 
soft  raiment  ?  Behold,  they  that  wear  soft  clothing  are  in 
kings'  houses. 


JOHN   THE  BAPTIST.  463 

"  But  what  went  ye  out  for  to  see  ?  A  prophet  ?  Yea,  I 
say  unto  you,  and  more  than  a  prophet. 

"  For  this  is  he  of  whom  it  is  written,  Behold,  I  send  my 
messenger  before  thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  be- 
fore thee. 

"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Among  them  that  are  born  of 
women  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist  ; 
notwithstanding  he  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
greater  than  he." 

There  was  none  greater  than  this  same  John,  Our  Saviour 
knew  that  John  was  going  first.  He  knew  He  was  soon  to 
die  and  John  would  have  to  come  to  Him  ;  that  they  would 
soon  be  together  in  glory,  and  then  they  could  talk  it  over  ; 
that  John  must  sink  out  of  sight,  and  the  Lord  of  Glory  must 
be  the  central  object.  John  and  Jesus  were  like  the  sun  and 
moon  in  comparison  with  the  stars.  All  the  prophets  were 
like  the  stars  in  comparison  with  those  two  men.  There  was 
no  prophet  like  John.  None  born  of  woman  was  greater. 
Moses  was  a  mighty  prophet.  Elijah  was  the  son  of  thun- 
der, and  a  great  and  mighty  prophet ;  and  so  was  Elisha. 
But  they  were  not  to  be  compared  with  John.  What  a  char-1 
acter  !  He  lost  sight  of  himself  entirely.  Christ  was  upper-  '• 
most ;  Christ  was  the  all-in-all  with  him.  He  was  beheaded 
outside  of  the  promised  land.  He  was  buried  in  Moab, 
somewhere  near  where  Moses  was  buried.  The  first  and 
last  prophet  of  that  nation  were  buried  near  together,  and 
there  they  lie  outside  of  the  promised  land  ;  but  their  bodies  by 
and  by  will  be  resurrected,  and  they  will  be  the  most  grand, 
the  niost  glorious  in  God's  kingdom.  Oh,  that  God  would 
give  us  the  spirit  of  John,  that  we  might  exalt  God,  forget 
ourselves,  and  cry  out  "  Christ  is  everything." 

MR.  Moody's  closing  prayer. 

Our  Heavenly  Father,  we  pray  Thee  that  Thy  blessing 
may  rest  upon  each  one  of  us,  and  that  we  maybe  filled  with 
the  power  and  the  glory  of  Christ ;  and  may  we  be  like  John, 
that  beloved  disciple,  and  forget  self  and  preach  up  Christ, 


464 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


Sx\  season  and  out  of  season.  May  we  be  like  him  who 
rried  in  the  wilderness,  "  He  must  increase,  and  I  must  de- 
ci ease."  O  God,  we  pray  Thee  give  us  that  spuit.  Thou 
knowest  how  this  seeking  for  praise,  and  this  love  for  ap- 
plause, keep  coming  up  in  our  hearts,  and  hinder  us  from 
working  for  Thee.  O  God,  destroy  that  feeling,  and  make 
us  hke  that  disciple,  that  we  may  not  be  seeking  great  things 
for  ourselves,  but  forget  ourselves,  and  work  for  Thee.  We 
pray  Thee  that  we  may  have  more  of  that  spirit  of  that  be- 
loved herald  of  Christ,  who  published  the  tidings  of  the 
coming  of  Christ,  of  One  who  was  to  help  us  to  go  forth 
into  this  dark  wilderness  and  dark  world,  and  herald  and 
sing  the  news  of  His  coming  again,  and  tell  about  His  imper- 
ishable love,  and  how  He  seeks  to  save  each  one  that  is  lost. 
We  pray  Thee  that  we  may  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  that  we  may  be  sent  out  like  John  the  Baptist  was  sent — 
to  the  home  of  the  drunkard,  to  the  home  of  the  infidel,  to 
the  home  of  the  sceptic,  and  that  we  may  tell  the  story  in 
such  a  way  that  every  one  may  be  brought  to  the  Saviour  and 
find  in  Him  that  peace  and  glory  that  passeth  understanding. 

BENEDICTION. 

And  now  may  peace,  glory,  and  grace  from  God,  the 
Father,  Christ,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  and  abide 
with  each  one  of  us,  now  and  forever.     Amen. 


SALVATION. 


You'll  find  my  text  most  anywhere  in  the  Bible.  If  you 
look  carefully  you  can  find  it  written  on  every  page. 

This  afternoon  I  want  to  tell  every  woman  in  this  assembly 
how  she  may  be  saved  before  this  meeting  closes.  Perhaps 
some  of  you  have  come  in  here  to  hear  a  sermon  oi  listen 
to  the  preaching.  Now,  I  don't  want  you  to  be  listen- 
ing for  a  sermon.  I  want  you  to  forget  all  about  the 
sermon  and  the  preaching,  and  be  ready  to  receive  the 
Word  of  Life,  and  be  ready  to  receive  salvation  as  a  gift 
Now,  if  there  are  one  or  one  hundred  or  five  hundred  tha. 
have  come  in  to  this  assembly  determined  not  to  go  out  until 
they  are  saved,  they  can  be  saved.  I  believe  that  as  surely 
as  that  I  am  standing  here  before  you  to-day.  I  have 
preached  to  you  a  number  of  times  in  the  past  twelve  weeks 
upon  sudden  conversion.  I  beheve  that  this  truth  of  sudden 
conversion  has  met  with  more  opposition  than  any  other 
truth  that  we  have  preached.  I  don't  think  we  have  been  in 
any  city  where  there  has  been  so  much  downright  opposition 
to  this  doctrine  as  there  has  been  in  Boston.  Now  let  us 
look,  and  if  the  Word  does  not  teach  this,  let  us  give  it  up  ; 
but  if  it  does,  then  let  us  cling  to  it.  1  want  to  give  you  a 
number  of  illustrations.  The  first  illustration  is  the  ark.  It 
was  the  ark  that  saved  Noah  and  his  family.  There  was  a 
moment  when  he  and  his  family  were  outside  the  ark,  and 
there  was  another  when  he  was  inside.  That  is  sudden  con- 
version. When  God  called  him  into  the  ark,  all  he  had  to 
do  was  to  come  into  the  ark.  It  was  all  ready  when  God 
ca^ed  him.  It  was  finished  and  the  door  was  wide  open.  J 
20* 


466  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

have  not  much  sympathy  for  this  notion  that  man  is  weeping 
and  praying  and  entreating  and  knocking  for  God  to  let  him 
come  in.  That  is  not  the  doctrine.  The  Son  of  God 
standeth  and  knocketh,  knocketh,  knocketh  at  the  door  of 
your  heart  for  you  to  open  it  and  let  Him  come  into  you. 
The  Son  of  God  wants  to  save  you.  He  is  anxious  that  you 
should  let  Him  save  you,  and  you  are  not  willing  to  be  saved. 
Some  of  you  say  you  have  tried  to  understand  this,  but  that 
you  cannot.  It  is  not  that  ;  you  can  understand  it.  It  is 
your  perverse,  black,  corrupt  hearts  that  will  not  let  you  un- 
derstand this. 

The  striving  is  with  your  pride,  with  your  own  heart,  not 
with  God.  The  idea  that  we  should  have  to  stand  weeping, 
struggling,  knocking  for  God,  the  blessed,  ever-living,  merci- 
ful God.  He  is  ready  to  give  you  salvation  when  you  are- 
ready  to  receive  it.  In  Manchester,  after  one  of  our  meet- 
ings, we  had  a  meeting  in  the  gallery,  an  inquiry  meeting, 
and  I  had  a  little  company  of  anxious  inquirers  around  me, 
;9,nd  1  noticed  one  gentleman  who  took  his  seat  upon  the 
outskirts  of  the  grou]),  in  the  rear.  I  thought  at  first  that  he 
was  a  sceptic,  and  then  I  saw  him  weeping  earnest  tears,  and 
that  he  was  interested  and  evidently  troubled  with  something. 
I  went  up  to  him  ^nd  I  said,  "  Why  cannot  you  receive  salva- 
tion now  ?  "  and  he  said,  "I  don't  feel  as  if  I  could  have  it 
here  now.''  And  I  went  on  to  tell  him  that  there  was  no 
need  to  wait  for  feeling ;  that  feeling  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it ;  that  if  he  would  just  let  his  feelings  alone  they  would  take 
care  of  themselves.  And  1  went  on  to  tell  him  that  the 
word  feeling  was  not  mentioned  in  the  Bibje  ;  that  there  was 
no  command  to  any  one  to  feel,  from  Genesis  to  B-evelation ; 
that  feeling  is  not  attached  to  salvation,  that  it  is  something 
beyond  mere  feeling ;  that  feeling  may  change,  but  that  of 
the  word  of  God  doesn't.  I  used  one  illustration  after  an- 
other, but  he  said  that  "  he  didn't  see  how  it  was."  And 
finally  I  thought  of  this  illustration  about  the  ^.rk,  and  I  said  : 


SALVATION,  467 

'*Was  it  Noah's  feelings  that  made  him  safe,  or  was  it  the 
ark  ?  "  Then  he  cried,  "  Why,  yes,  I  see  it."  Why,  it  aston- 
ished me,  he  got  it  so  quick.  He  said  :  "  I  have  got  to  go 
off  now  upon  the  train  ;  I  thank  you  very  much,  Mr.  Moody." 
I  could  hardly  believe  it  that  he  understood  it,  it  was  so 
quick,  so  sudden.  A  few  days  afterwards,  as  I  was  coming 
out  of  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  a  man  stepped  up  to  me  and 
said:  "Mr.  Moody,  do  you  remember  me?"  and  I  said, 
"  Well,  no,  I  don't  particularly  ;  I  see  a  good  many  faces  and 
I  cannot  remember  them  all,  but  yours  seems  very  familiar 
to  me."  And  then  he  said,  "  Do  you  remember  the  illustra- 
tion about  the  ark  ?  "  and  I  said,  "  Oh,  yes,  I  shall  not  forget 
that  very  soon."  And  then  he  said,  "  I  am  the  man  ;  "  and  I 
said,  "  Well,  how  is  it  with  you  ?  "  And  he  said,  "  I  went 
right  into  the  ark  then  ;  I  let  the  feelings  take  care  of  them- 
selves." And  when  I  left  Manchester  he  was  about  the  last 
man  to  say  good-by  to  me.  The  word  of  God  saved  him, 
and  if  you  will  just  take  the  word  of  God  to-day  it  will  save 
you,  and  you  will  find  peace  and  joy.  In  the  twelfth  chapter 
of  Exodus  the  Israelites  are  told  : 

"  And  ye  shall  take  a  bunch  of  hyssop,  and  dij)  it  in  the 
blood  that  is  in  the  basin,  and  strike  ihe  lintel  and  the  two 
side-posts  with  the  blood  that  is  in  the  basin  :  and  none  of 
you  shall  go  out  at  the  door  of  his  house  until  the  morning. 

"  For  the  Lord  will  pass  through  to  smite  the  Egyptians  ; 
and  when  he  seeth  the  blood  upon  the  lintel,  and  on  the  two 
side-posts,  the  Lord  will  pass  over  the  door,  and  will  not 
suffer  the  destroyer  to  come  in  unto  your  houses  to  smite 
you. 

"  And  ye  shall  observe  this  thing  for  an  ordinance  to  thee 
and  to  thy  sons  forever." 

What  was  it  made  these  people  safe  ?  It  was  the  blood 
upon  the  door-posts.  It  was  not  their  pr;^yers,  their  tears, 
their  weeping  that  saved  them  and  made  them  feel  secure  ; 
it  was  the  blood.  "  When  I  see  the  blood,  that  shall  be  the 
token  for  you."     If  we  are  sheltered  behind  the  blood  we 


468  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

shall  be  safe.  Now,  there  must  have  been  a  moment  when 
that  blood  was  not  there.  When  it  was  not  there  there  was 
a  moment  when  they  were  exposed  to  death,  but  the  moment 
the  blood  was  put  there  that  moment  they  were  sheltered. 
They  had  then  security  and  safety.  There  was  a  legend  told 
about  a  first-born  child,  and  it  ran  that  if  the  blood  was  not 
there  she  would  die  that  night,  and  she  wanted  to  know  that 
it  was  there.  She  asked  her  father  if  the  blood  was  there. 
He  said,  "  Oh,  yes,  it  is  there.  I  told  the  servants  to  put  it 
there."  But  she  said,  "Father,  are  you  sure  it  is  there.?" 
And  he  answered  her  again,  "  I  told  the  servants  to  put  it 
there,  and  they  have  of  course  done  so."  But  said  she,  "  I 
wish  you  would  take  me  to  the  door  and  show  me  if  it  is  there." 
And  he  took  her  out,  and  lo,  and  behold,  it  was  not  there. 
But  the  servants  had  time  enough  to  kill  the  lamb  and  put 
the  blood  there,  and  she  saw  it  and  rested  quietly  in  that 
word  of  the  living  God.  It  is  only  a  legend,  but  it  is  an 
illustration  that  we  can  afford  to  take  God  at  His  word. 

The  blood  of  Christ  is  given  us  in  mercy,  and  if  I  believe 
upon  God  I  am  safe.  It  is  not  my  prayers,  it  is  not  my  tears, 
it  is  not  my  feelings,  but  the  Word  of  God  that  saves  me.  I  find 
a  good  many  people  that  are  substituting  feeling  in  the  place 
of  belief.  They  are  substituting  before  Christ  ordinances 
and  forms,  instead  of  taking  the  Word  of  God  as  the  word 
that  sets  us  free,  that  gives  us  liberty  in  Christ.  The  next 
illustration  that  I  want  to  give  you  is  these  six  cities  of  refuge. 
And  the  Lord  told  Moses  that  there  should  be  six  cities  of 
refuge,  three  upon  this  side  of  the  Jordan,  and  three  in  the 
land  of  Canaan  ;  and  that  their  gates  should  be  open  day 
and  night ;  and  these  cities  should  be  in  a  conspicuous 
place  ;  and  their  leading  men,  like  our  selectmen  or  our 
officers  connected  with  the  Government,  should  keep  all  the 
roads  in  good  repair,  and  the  bridges  in  good  order  ;  and  sign- 
posts in  red  were  set  up,  pointing  the  way  to  these  cities. 
Now,  suppose  I  have  unwittingly  killed  a  man.     In  those  days 


SALVATION.  469 

it  was  the  law  that  the  next  relation  of  the  man  who  had 
been  killed  could  draw  his  sword  and  slay  that  murderer 
when  he  met  him.  The  moment  that  this  nearest  relative 
heard  of  it  he  could  come  upon  the  murderer  and  slay  him, 
and  the  law  would  not  touch  him,  it  would  justify  the  act. 
So  the  nearest  relative  of  this  man  could  slay  me.  But 
if  I  once  get  behind  the  walls  of  one  of  these  cities  I  am 
safe.  If  1  am  innocent,  I  am  tried  and  am  acquitted,  but 
if  I  am  guilty,  then  I  am  condemned  and  put  to  death. 
Look  at  that  in  regard  to  salvation.  I  am  ten  miles  away. 
There  are  ten  miles  between  me  and  that  city.  I  do  not 
stop  to  discuss  the  question.  I  have  only  one  thing  to  do, 
and  that  is  get  in  there.  I  have  no  other  hope.  I  leap  into 
the  highway,  and  I  go  towards  that  city  just  as  fast  as  I  can. 
It  isn't  long  before  I  hear  some  one  upon  my  track.  He 
comes  closer  and  closer.  I  redouble  my  speed  and  fly  as 
fast  as  I  can.  He  comes  nearer  and  nearer.  I  can  hear 
him  breathe.  If  I  do  not  escape  into  that  city  I  must  perish 
if  he  overtakes  me.  He  hounds  me  down.  I  am  exposed 
to  death  ;  to  judgment.  I  am  now  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  that  city.  Notice  is  given  to  the  citizens.  The  men 
rush  to  the  walls  to  see  me.  They  cry,  "  Escape,  escape 
for  thy  life,  he  is  hard  upon  thee."  I  leap  over  the  highway, 
1  bound  along  the  road.  I  have  not  time  to  discuss  ;  I  must 
escape  into  that  city.  I  am  exposed  to  that  man's  sword. 
Now  I  am  leaping  through  the  walls  ;  one  moment  I  am  in 
danger,  in  the  next  I  am  safe.  That  is  sudden,  isn't  it? 
That  is  a  Bible  illustration,  isn't  it  ?  But  a  great  many 
people  think  that  they  are  not  condemned  yet.  But  how 
many  should  cry  out,  ''  I  have  broken  the  law  ;  Death  is 
upon  my  track  ;  I  do  not  know  how  far  off  he  may  be  ;  it 
may  be  years,  it  may  be  months,  it  may  be  days,  it  may  be 
nours,  and  he  is  fast  bearing  down  upon  me."  God  has  pro- 
vided a  city  of  refuge  for  you.  If  you  flee  there  you  shall 
not  die,  you  will   not  perish.     That  ought   to   be   the  first 


47o  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

occupation.  "  I  cannot  tell  what  will  happen  to  me." 
*'  Boast  not  of  to-morrow."  "  I  must  pass  to  that  city." 
That  is  what  we  should  say.  Thank  God,  we  have  not  got 
to  go  ten  miles.  We  have  not  to  wait  ten  minutes.  All 
you  have  to  do  is  to  believe,  and  salvation  is  yours.  Will 
you  have  it  now  ?  It  is  yours  if  you  will  just  take  it.  But 
let  me  give  you  another  illustration  that  you  will  understand 
better.  We  will  go  back  to  the  days  before  the  war.  There 
is  a  slave  in  Kentucky.  He  has  heard  a  good  deal  about 
liberty,  and  he  says,  "  If  I  could  only  get  across  the  Ohio 
River — if  I  could  only  get  into  the  land  of  liberty,  would 
I  not  rejoice  ?  Oh,  if  I  was  only  a  free  man."  He  cannot 
read,  perhaps,  but  some  one  has  told  him  about  liberty.  He 
knows  that  all  those  people  upon  the  other  side  of  the  river 
are  free.  But  he  knows  that  he  is  not  safe  there.  He  knows 
that  there  is  a  fugitive  slave  law  there.  "  If  I  could  get  there 
and  stay  there  my  master  would  come  over  and  take  be  back 
again.  But  if  I  could  swim  that  river  and  get  through  Michi- 
gan into  Canada,  I  would  be  safe.  I  would  be  a  free  man,  for 
not  a  slave  can  breathe  under  the  English  Jack.  There  is  not 
a  slave  in  Queen  Victoria's  dominions."  This  man  wants  to  be 
free.  This  man  swims  that  river,  but  he  knows  that  he  is  not 
safe.  He  has  not  been  gone  but  a  little  time  when  his  master  is 
upon  his  track.  The  poor  man  runs  as  fast  as  he  can.  He 
hides  in  the  woods  in  the  day-time  and  at  night  all  the  time  he 
pushes  along,  avoiding  the  highways,  toward  that  Canada  line. 
If  he  crosses  that  he  will  be  forever  a  free  man.  He  crosses 
into  Michigan.  He  says,  "  Oh,  if  I  can  only  get  across  the 
Canada  line,  I  will  be  a  free  man."  Now  he  is  within  a  few 
feet  of  that  line.  His  master  is  fifty  yards  behind  him.  "  If 
I  can  make  the  line  now  I  am  safe,  I  am  a  free  man."  He 
is  still  nearer  to  it — his  master  is  within  a  few  feet  of  him. 
He  goes  bounding  over  the  Hne,  and  he  is  a  free  man.  That 
is  sudden,  isn't  it?  If  you  do  not  see  how  you  can  be  con- 
verted, cross  the  line.     You  can  stay  where  you  are  and  be 


SALVATION.  471 

lost,  or  you  can  turn  your  face  to  Him  and  come  to  His  lov- 
ing bosom,  and  He  will  adopt  you.  You  will  become  the 
bride  of  the  Lamb,  a  child  of  God  for  all  time  and  eternity. 
Oh,  may  God  help  you  to  cross  the  line.  But  you  say,  "  I 
still  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  done  all  at  once."  Some  of 
you  have  looked  at  Naaman.  He  was  a  leper,  and  he  went 
down  into  the  Jordan  as  he  was  told  to  do.  He  goes  in  six 
times  a  leper  and  he  washes  and  comes  out  a  leper,  but  the 
seventh  time  he  washed  in  the  Jordan  and  he  was  made 
clean.  He  obeyed,  and  he  was  made  clean.  That  is  what 
God  wants.  'He  wants  obedience.  He  was  to  be  saved  by 
being  obeyed.  He  goes  in  six  times.  There  is  one  mo- 
ment when  Naaman  was  a  leper.  But  he  goes  in  the 
seventh  time,  and  he  comes  out  in  a  moment  clean.  These 
are  all  Bible  illustrations.  But  you  still  say,  '-I  don't  see 
how  a  person  can  be  saved  all  at  once."  You  may  not  be 
just  what  you  ought  to  be,  but  you  will  be  a  child  of  God. 
When  my  little  boy  was  a  day  old  he  was  just  as  much  my 
boy  as  he  is  now,  when  he  is  seven  years  old.  Just  as 
Naaman  got  rid  of  his  leprosy,  so  you  can  get  rid  of  your 
leprosy  of  sin  to-day.  If  you  just  obey  God,  if  you  will  just 
receive  Him  to-day  you  can  go  home  from  this  house  justi- 
fied. Look  at  that  poor  man  who  was  to  have  been  exe- 
cuted a  few  days  ago.  The  last  day  had  come,  the  scaffold 
had  been  made.  I  don't  know  whether  it  was  the  same  as 
in  another  case,  for  I  did  not  read  the  papers  to  see,  but  I 
suppose  his  cell  was  where  he  could  hear  the  hannners  upon 
the  scaffold  driving  the  nails  or  bolts  together.  There  is 
that  poor  condemned  man.  In  a  few  hours  he  is  to  be  exe- 
cuted. Then  comes  a  telegram  from  somebody  to  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  he  is  reprieved.  One  moment  he  was  condemned, 
and  the  next  he  has  got  a  reprieve.  It  was  in  a  town  in 
England,  and  there  was  a  man  in  jail  there  that  was  to  be 
hanged  upon  a  Monday.  Sunday  all  the  ministers  were 
preaching  about  him.     The   flag  was  over   the  prison.     It 


472  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

was  like  a  funeral  in  that  town.  There  never  was  such  a 
day  seen  there.  The  next  morning  he  was  to  be  executed. 
He  can  hear  them  at  work  upon  the  scaffold  at  midnight. 
He  could  not  sleep.  His  friends  had  come  and  taken  their 
last  farewell  of  him,  and  the  next  morning  he  was  to  be 
launched  into  eternity.  He  hears  the  footsteps  upon  the 
corridor,  and  he  thought  it  was  the  officer  come  to  tell  him 
that  his  time  had  come.  But  he  came  to  the  poor  con- 
demned man  and  he  told  him  that  he  had  a  pardon  for  him 
from  the  Queen.  One  moment  he  might  be  hanged ;  one 
moment  condemned,  another  pardoned  !  So,  my  friehds, 
you  can  be  saved,  all  at  once.  If  God  is  going  to  forgive 
you  He  isn't  going  to  be  six  months  or  six  years  about  it. 
If  your  child  does  wrong,  mothers,  and  is  sorry  for  it,  is  it 
six  months  or  six  years  that  you  take  in  which  to  forgive  it  ? 
When  you  forgive  it,  it  is  instantaneous,  isn't  it?  If  this  man 
who  had  got  the  pardon  from  the  Queen  had  said  he  did  not 
want  it,  he  would  not  take  it,  he  would  not  have  got  the 
benefit  of  what  the  Queen  had  done. 

"  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord  : 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as 
snow ;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool." 

Scarlet  and  red — two  fast  colors.  You  could  not  get  the 
scarlet  out  of  that  lady's  shawl  without  spoiling  the  shawl. 
"  Yes,  but  what  is  the  philosophy  of  it  ?  "  Don't  you  mind 
the  philosophy  of  it.  Pardon  is  offered  you,  and  you  want 
to  inquire  into  it  ?  You  want  to  know  all  about  it  ?  You 
want  to  understand  the  philosophy  of  it  ?  Just  take  the 
pardon  that  is  offered  and  thank  Him  for  it.  I  firmly  be- 
lieve tliat  Christ  stands  here  with  a  pardon  for  every  soul 
that  wants  it.  All  you  have  to  do  is  just  to  take  it.  I  want 
to  call  your  attention  to  a  verse  here  in  Numbers — the 
twenty-first  chapter  of  Numbers  and  the  fifth  verse  : 

"  And  the  people  spake  against  God,  and  against  Moses, 


SALVATION. 


473 


Wherefore  have  ye  brought  us  up  out  of  Egypt  to  die  in  the 
wilderness  ?  for  there  is  no  bread,  neither  is  there  any  water  ; 
and  our  soul  loatheth  this  light  bread. 

"And  the  Lord  sent  fiery  serpents  among  the  people,  and 
they  bit  the  people  ;  and  much  people  of  Israel  died. 

"  Therefore  the  people  came  to  Moses  and  said,  We  have 
sinned,  for  we  have  spoken  against  the  Lord,  and  against 
thee';  pray  unto  the  Lord  that  He  take  away  the  serpents 
from  us.     And  Moses  prayed  for  the  people. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Make  thee  a  fiery 
serpent,  and  set  it  upon  a  pole  :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  every  one  that  is  bitten,  when  he  looketh  upon  it,  shall 
live. 

"  And  Moses  made  a  serpent  of  brass,  and  put  it  upon  a 
pole,  and  it  came  to  pass,  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten  any 
man,  when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived." 

"When  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived."  Not 
six  weeks  after  he  beheld  it.  Not  because  they  had  been 
looking  at  it  six  months  were  they  saved.  At  once  they 
were  saved.  That  was  God's  remedy.  You  want  to  know 
the  philosophy  of  it  ?  I  don't  know.  I  don't  know  what 
there  was  in  an  old  brass  serpent  to  give  them  life.  But  I 
know  what  He  said.     Hear  His  word  : 

"  Make  a  fiery  serpent,  and  set  it  upon  a  pole  :  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass  that  every  one  that  is  bitten,  when  he 
looketh  upon  it,  shall  be  saved." 

That  is  enough  for  me.  And  now  we  find  men  that  are 
7ooking  to  Christ,  and  they  get  light.  It  is  being  fulfilled  in 
Boston  at  the  present  day.  But  some  men  like  to  believe  in 
it.  They  say,  "  There  is  no  common  sense  in  it.  What  an 
idea  to  tell  Moses  to  make  an  old  brass  serpent  and  set  it  up 
upon  a  pole  for  people  to  look  at.  Now,  if  he  had  told  him 
to  take  the  brass  and  rub  it  in  there  might  have  been  some 
sense  in  it.  I  could  understand  how  that  might  do,  but  such 
foolishness  as  sticking  up  a  brass  serpent  upon  a  pole  just 
for  people  to  look — why,  I  couldn't  believe  that  if  I  wanted 
to.     You   don't   think   that  we   enlightened  Bostonians  are 


474 


TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 


going  to  believe  that,  do  you  ?  "  Thank  God,  a  good  many 
people  here  are  believing  it,  and  you  don't  have  to  go  through 
a  college  or  a  seminary  to  learn  how  to  look.  You  can  look 
without  being  cultured.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  look,  and 
you  can  be  saved  by  looking.  "  Look  unto  me,  all  ye  ends 
of  the  earth."  Jesus  is  the  author  of  all  life,  and  if  you  are 
going  to  get  it,  you  have  got  to  look  to  Him.  It  is  not  look- 
ing at  the  pole,  it  is  looking  at  the  serpent.  It  is  not  looking 
at  the  minister  holding  the  pole  up  or  at  the  pole  itself.  Some 
people  do  not  like  the  looks  of  brass,  and  they  are  gilding  up 
the  cross  of  Christ  to  suit  themselves.  But  it  is  the  brass 
serpent  that  we  are  to  look  at.  Christ  says,  "As  Moses 
lifted  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
Man  be  lifted  up,"  All  we  have  to  do  now  is  to  look. 
There  were  some  friends  of  mine  that  were  talking  to  a  poor 
Scottish  lassie,  and  they  gave  her  some  advice  that  I  never 
would  have  given  to  any  one.  They  told  her  to  go  home  and 
read  her  Bible.  They  did  not  know  what  might  happen  upon 
the  way.  She  looked  at  them  and  said,  "  I  canna  read,  I 
can  only  pray  Jesus  to  tak'  me  as  I  am."  My  friends,  you 
just  say  that  to-day,  and  see  how  quickly  He  will  take  you. 
I  don't  care  if  you  cannot  read  or  write.  I  don't  care  if  you 
never  heard  of  Him  before  to-day.  "  Whosoever  believeth 
upon  me  shall  not  perish."  The  question  is,  will  you  take 
him  ?  Will  you  take  God's  gift  to-day  ?  A  lady  said  to  me, 
"  You'tell  me  just  to  receive  Him.  Well,  I  do,  and  I  am  the 
same  woman.  I  try  to  believe  and  it  isn't  any  different." 
"Ah  !  it  isn't  trying,  it  is  doing."  I  took  her  pocketbook 
which  she  carried  in  her  hand  and  I  said,  "  Suppose  there  is 
$50,000  in  that  pocketbook.  If  I  give  it  to  you,  you  are  the 
same  woman,  yet  a  moment  ago  you  were  a  beggar,  and  now 
you  are  rich.  You  have  got  a  gift.  If  you  get  the  new  birth 
you  get  a  gift ;  you  get  Christ.  That  makes  a  difference. 
You  may  not  realize  what  you  have  got."  I  got  Christ 
twenty-one   years  ago,  and  He   was  more  to   me  after  ten 


SALVATION.  475 

years  than  He  was  at  first,  and  He  is  more  to  me  now  than 
He  was  ten  years  ago.  I  keep  growing  in  Him,  and  I  do 
not  know  what  I  shall  be  in  time.  When  I  was  in  England, 
this  doctrine  was  talked  about  a  good  deal  there.  One  day 
I  was  going  down  a  street  and  I  saw  a  soldier  coming  to- 
wards me.  You  know  they  all  wear  red  coats  there,  and  you 
can  tell  them  a  good  way  off.  I  had  heard  something  about 
how  they  enUsted  there,  but  I  wanted  to  be  sure  and  get  the 
whole  story  from  one  who  knew.  So  when  he  came  up  I 
said  :  "  I  wish  you  would  answer  me  a  few  questions.  I  am 
an  American,  and  you  know  that  we  Americans — especially 
when  we  come  from  Yankeedom — are  very  inquisitive."  He 
said,  "  Certainly."  I  said,  "  I  would  like  to  have  you  tell 
me  how  long  it  took  you  to  become  a  soldier  ?"  He  laughed 
at  me.  "  Why,  just  no  time  at  all,"  he  told  me.  I  had  heard 
it  before.  This  is  the  custom  when  a  man  enlists  :  When  he 
says  he  will  enlist,  the  recruiting  officer  puts  an  English  shil- 
ling into  the  palm  of  his  hand  and  that  moment  he  is  a  sol- 
dier. He  comes  up  a  citizen  and  says,  "I  want  to  enlist." 
He  can  go  wherever  he  pleases.  He  can  go  to  Australia, 
America,  Africa,  anywhere.  Next  that  shilling  is  put  in  his 
hand  and  he  ceases  to  be  a  citizen.  He  is  a  soldier.  He  is 
under  the  Government  of  Queen  Victoria.  He  is  com- 
manded by  officers,  and  he  has  to  go  where  they  order  him. 
He  has  lost  his  liberty.  Now,  do  you  want  to  know  how 
you  can  be  a  soldier  of  God  ?  It  aint  the  English  shilling,  it 
is  the  Saviour.  You  come  in  here  a  sinner,  and  you  take 
Christ,  and  He  is  yours,  and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  trust 
Him.  The  question  is,  will  you  receive  Him  ?  I  was  asking 
that  question,  and  I  thought  I  would  wait  for  an  answer.  I 
thought  I  would  get  an  answer.  And  a  man  said,  "  I  will 
take  Him."  Who  will  receive  Him  to-day  ?  who  will  enlist 
today?  You  can  receive  Him  and  live  forever;  you  can 
reject  Him  and  die.  In  John's  first  epistle,  the  fifth  chapter, 
the  ninth  verse : 


476  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

"  If  we  receive  the  witness  pf  men,  the  witness  of  God  is 
greater :  for  this  is  the  witness  of  God  which  he  hath  testified 
of  his  Son. 

"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  witness  in 
himself:  he  that  believeth  not  God  hath  made  him  a  liar,  be- 
cause he  believeth  not  the  record  that  God  gave  of  his  Son. 

"  And  this  is  the  record,  that  God  has  given  to  us  eternal 
'life  :  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son." 

He  gives  us  eternal  life,  and  if  we  get  it  we  have  got  to  get 
it  through  this  Son.  A  man  ignores  Christ  and  he  cannot  get 
it.  If  you  won't  receive  him  you  will  not  get  it.  You  can- 
not get  it  independent  of  Him.  *'  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  hath  not  life."  Have  you 
got  Him  ?  that's  the  question.  Answer  the  question  to-day. 
Have  you  got  Him  ?  If  you  will  take  Him,  He  is  yours. 
Can  you  say  to-day,  I  have  received  Him,  and  He  has 
received  me?  You  that  have  not  got  Him,  won't  you  just 
take  Him  to-day  ?  Won't  you  just  have  Him  now?  When 
I  was  in  Glasgow  a  lady  said  to  me  :  "  You  are  all  the  time 
talking  about  '  take,  take  ; '  do  you  find  it  in  the  Bible  ?  " 
I  told  her  I  had  found  it,  and  1  wished  I  had  time  to  speak 
about  one-half  the  places  where  it  was  blessed  to  me.  The 
word  is  near  the  end  of  the  Revelation  : 

"  The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that 
heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athiist  come.  And 
whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

Won't  some  one  take  Plim  to-day?  Won't  you  take  this 
cup  that  is  offered  you  ?  If  you  are  Christians  pass  it  to  your 
next  neighbor  and  ask  her  if  she  is  saved.  You  ladies  just 
pass  the  cup  around,  and  if  they  do  not  take  it,  the  blood  of 
their  souls  will  not  be  required  at  your  hands.  Everybody 
has  taken  of  it ;  pass  the  cup  to  some  one  else  and  ask  them 
to  take  it  as  a  gift.     Let  us  pray. 


FREEDOM  FOR  THE  CAPTIVE. 


MARKETMEN  S    MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL. 

The  first  time  that  I  ever  came  into  this  hall  was  about 
twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  ago  this  spring,  I  think,  or 
it  might  have  been  the  month  of  June.  Anthony  Burns 
was  then  in  the  Court-house,  and  there  were  a  great  many 
Bostonians  going  to  try  to  set  him  free.  I  remember,  after 
Wendell  Phillips  had  spoken,  and  quite  a  number  of  others 
had  spoken  on  this  platform,  and  when  the  meeting  was  just 
at  white  heat,  General  Swift,  who  spoke  at  Tremont  Temple 
the  other  day,  was  up  in  the  gallery,  and  he  said  he  under- 
stood the  people  were  already  breaking  into  the  Court-house 
and  taking  out  Anthony  Burns.  I  went  out  of  this  hall  as 
quick  as  I  ever  left  a  meeting,  and  there  was  a  great  crowd 
around  the  Court-house,  but  all  of  us  couldn't  liberate  that 
poor  captive.  But,  thank  God,  the  gospel  can  set  hundreds 
free  to-day.  We  haven't  got  to  go  out  of  this  hail  and  to  go 
up  to  the  Court-house,  but  in  this  old  hall  men  who  have 
been  loaded  down  with  sin,  and  who  have  been  slaves  to  sin 
for  twenty,  thirty,  and  forty  years,  can  be  set  free  this  very 
hour  if  they  want  freedom;  and  I  don't  know  any  better 
place  than  this  hall,  that  is  called  the  "  Cradle  of  Liberty," 
for  the  captives  to  be  set  free,  and  I  hope  every  Christian  in 
this  house  will  be  lifdng  up  their  hearts  to  God  in  prayer 
that  there  may  be  hundreds  of  them  set  free  to-day.  This  is 
what  we  have  come  for.  We  have  not  come  here  just  to 
have  a  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  but  to  proclaim  the  glorious 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  tell   men  how  they  can  be  free. 


478  TO  ALL  PEOPLE, 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  a  few  verses  in  the  sixteenJ" 
chapter  of  John  :  '^'* 

"These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  ye  shoulli 
not  be  offended. 

"They  shall  put  you  out  of  the  synagogues  :  yea,  the  time 
Cometh  that  whosoever  killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth 
God  service. 

"  And  these  things  will  they  do  unto  you,  because  they 
have  not  known  the  Father  nor  me. 

"  But  these  things  have  I  told  you,  that  when  the  time 
shall  come,  ye  may  remember  that  I  told  you  of  them.  And 
these  things  I  said  unto  you  at  the  beginning,  because  I  was 
with  you. 

"  But  now  I  go  my  way  to  him  that  sent  me  ;  and  none 
of  you  asketh  me,  Whither  goest  thou  ?  " 

"But  because  I  have  said  these  things  unto  you,  sorrow 
hath  filled  your  heart. 

"  Nevertheless,  I  tell  you  the  truth  :  it  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away  ;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not 
come  unto  you  ;  but  if  1  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you. 

"And  when  he  is  come,  he  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin, 
and  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment  : 

"  Of  sin,  because  they  believe  not  on  me  ; 

"  Of  righteousness,  because  I  go  to  my  Father,  and  ye  see 
me  no  more  ; 

"  Of  judgment,  because  the  prince  of  this  world  is 
judged. 

"  I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot 
bear  them  now." 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  particularly  to  the  words, 
"  And  when  He  is  come  He  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin, 
because^  hey  believe  not  on  me."  Of  sin,  because  men  lie 
and  steal  and  get  drunk  and  murder  ?  No.  Of  sin,  because 
they  believe  not  upon  me.  That  is  the  root  of  sin,  that  is  the 
sin  which  brings  forth  all  this  bad  fruit ;  this  miserable  un- 
belief. Would  to  God  it  could  be  swept  out  of  Faneuil  Hall 
to-day.  If  every  particle  of  the  unbelief  that  is  represented 
by  this  assembly  could  all  be  laid  aside  what  a  blessed  hour 
we  should  spend  together  here.     "  And  when   He  is  come 


FREEDOM  FOR    THE    CAPTIVE.  479 

e  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  judg- 
ent."  Now  that  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  There  is 
.0. preacher  that  can  convince  men  of  sin,  there  is  no 
amount  of  praying  that  can  convince  men  of  sin ;  that  is  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  I  cannot  help  but  believe 
that  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  now  in  Boston 
that  are  convicted  of  sin,  but  they  are  waiting  for  something, 
and  they  don't  know  exactly  what  it  is,  but  they  think  they 
have  got  to  wait  until  they  have  a  little  more  feeling,  or  that 
they  have  got  to  have  some  sudden  shock  come  upon  them, 
or  some  sudden  sensation  that  shall  come  stealing  over  them 
before  they  can  get  rid  of  their  sins.  If  a  man  is  convicted 
of  sin,  if  a  man  is  convinced  that  he  is  a  sinner  in  the  sight 
of  God,  that  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Holy 
Ghost  has  already  commenced  His  work,  and*  to  that  class 
of  men  I  want  to  speak  to-day.  I  want  to  tell  you  how  you 
can  get  rid  of  your  sin  and  come  to  Christ  if  you  will.  If 
men  really  want  to  get  rid  of  their  sins,  all  they  have  got  to 
do  is  just  to  cast  them  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — leave 
them  with  Him.  But  some  of  you  may  say,  "  How  is  it 
about  repentance?  Haven't  I-  got  to  repent?  Isn't  there 
a  certain  amount  of  feeling  I  have  got  to  have?  Haven't 
I  got  to  have  some  remorse,  and  haven't  I  got  to  pass 
through  some  amount  of  despair  and  gloom  before  I  have 
this  ?  "  That  is  the  trouble  with  men  when  they  are  con- 
vinced of  sin,  they  begin  to  look  around  for  some  one  else's 
experience.  Of  all  the  people  who  ever  lived  in  the  world 
there  have  been  no  two  alike,  and  God  never  rep^  its  Him- 
self ;  and,  although  we  are  converted  by  the  same  power 
and  by  the  same  Holy  Ghost,  no  two  ever  come  up  to  the 
cross  in  the  same  way.  Instead  of  looking  to  this  and  to 
that  man's  experience^  let  us  look  right  to  the  Master,  and 
come  with  our  sins  and  repentance  and  faith,  and  all  these 
things  can  come  in  their  place,  but  you  be  occupied  by 
Christ.     If  a  man  really  wants  to  go  to  Christ  he  will  not  be 


48o 


TO   ALL   FEOPLE. 


thinking  about  his  repentance  and  faith.  Faith  is  only  the 
hand  that  reaches  out  and  takes  the  blessing,  and  it  is  Christ 
we  want,  and  if  we  will  come  to  Him  as  a  child  should  come 
to  his  mother  and  confess  our  sins  and  ask  Him  to  forgive  us 
He  will  do  it.  There  is  nothing  He  desires  to  do  as  much 
as  that,  and  He  will  blot  them  out  as  a  cloud.  When  men 
are  converted  they  will  turn  right  about  face,  and  the 
moment  a  man  is  convinced  that  he  is  a  sinner,  and  if  he  will 
turn  right  to  God,  He  will  forgive  his  sins.  People  say,  "  I 
dont,  believe  you  can  be  saved  that  easy  ;  I  believe  we  have 
got  to  work  a  little  for  salvation.  Faith  and  works  I  believe 
in,"  So  do  I,  but  I  don't  believe  a  man  is  going  to  work  out 
his  salvation.  Suppose  for  a  moment  that  this  platform  is  the 
wreck  of  a  sinking  ship.  The  vessel  has  sprung  a  leak  and 
is  going  to  the  bottom.  The  captain  says:  "Jump  into 
the  life-boat!  The  vessel's  going  down!"  But  I  think 
I  can  keep  the  vessel  afloat  by  pumping  ;  and  so  I  keep 
pumpmg,  pumping ;  and  I  say  to  the  captain  :  *'  I  don't 
believe  the  vessel's  going  down."  Now,  that  would  be 
working  out  my  own  salvation  ;  and  all  the  time  the  vessel 
would  be  sinking.  But  Mr.  Sankey  won't  stay  on  the  wreck. 
He  just  leaps  into  the  life-boat  and  takes  an  oar  and  pulls 
with  a  will  for  the  shore.'  That's  working  out  your  own  sal- 
vation after  you're  saved.  Now,  isn't  there  some  one  here 
to-day  who  will  just  leap  into  the  life-boat  and  be  saved  ?  I 
want  Mr.  Sankey  to  sing  "  Pull  for  the  Shore,"  and  may 
every  man  join  in  the  chorus. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  SOWER. 


I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fourth  chapter  of 
Mark,  the  first  twenty  verses. 

The  Lord  here  explains  His  own  parables.  There  are  a 
good  many  of  those  that  receive  the  seed  by  the  wayside,  A 
man  got  up  in  one  of  the  meetings,  in  Chicago  in  one  of  the 
churches,  and  said  he  had  been  to  church  for  a  great  many 
years  regularly,  but  never  had  heard  a  sermon  till  the  last 
few  weeks.  He  said  it  seemed  as  if  the  devil  got  the  words 
away  before  they  reached  him.  He  was  an  architect,  and  he 
said  he  planned  many  buildings  in  church  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  he  thought  Satan  was  a  good  financier,  because  he  had 
worked  out  some  difficult  problems  in  that  way.  There  are 
a  good  many  representatives  of  this  class.  The  seed  does 
not  touch  their  hearts.  They  bear,  and  yet  they  do  not  bear. 
They  attend  church  Sunday  after  Sunday,  and  they  are  what 
we  call  gospel-hardened.  There  are  four  classes  of  hearers, 
and  there  will  be  till  the  end  of  time.  A  great  many  want 
to  know  if  all  these  men  who  profess  to  be  converted  are 
going  to  hold  out.  I  don't  know  as  they  will.  If  thi;v  --^o 
not  it  will  not  be  anything  contrary  to  Scripture.  There  are 
four  classes  of  hearers  and  always  will  be.  You  find  a  great 
many  who  hear  the  Word  and  it  seems  as  if  they  were 
going  to  receive  it.  They  are  impressed,  but  there  is  some- 
thing perhaps  that  they  are  not  willing  to  give  up,  and  these 
impressions  that  seem  to  have  been  made,  wear  away  and 
are  gone.  That  is  one  thing  that  some  people  bring  against 
soecial  meetings  like  these  ;  they  say  that  they  harden  some 
men.     Well,  there   is    no    doubt    about    that.     The   gospel 


482  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

proves  a  saviour  of  life  unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death.  1 
pity  a  man  that  has  been  attending  these  gospel  meetings 
the  last  few  weeks  and  has  not  been  brought  to  the  Saviour. 
The  sermons  that  would  not  move  him  now  would  not  move 
him  a  few  years  hence.  That  is  what  the  Word  of  God 
teaches,  and  there  are  a  great  many  men  that  are  attending 
these  meetings  that  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  were  im- 
pressed for  eternity,  but  the  impressions  were  worn  away  by 
going  into  the  world.  I  know  of  a  man  that  some  time  ago 
wanted  to  become  a  Christian,  but  right  at  this  time,  when 
the  Spirit  of  God  was  striving  with  him,  he  went  to  the  thea- 
tre and  the  impressions  left  him,  and  we  have  not  been  able 
to  touch  him  yet.  The  second  class  are  those  that  receive 
the  Word  in  stony  places,  and  it  springs  up  suddenly,  and 
they  go  on  with  joy,  and  it  has  not  root.  The  people  who 
seem  to  be  converted,  but  whose  consciences  do  not  seem 
to  be  touched,  do  not  last  long.  If  a  man's  conscience  is 
not  touched^  and  he  does  not  make  restitution  if  it  is  in 
his  power,  he  is  not  converted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  like  a  great  many  people  that  like  to  go  with  the  cur- 
rent, and  when  there  is  a  little  persecution  and  opposition 
they  go  right  back  again.  They  never  were  converted  at  all. 
There  are  a  good  many  of  this  class.  Let  me  say  to  you, 
young  converts,  if  you  are  not  tender  in  your  consciences 
and  do  not  feel  hke  being  honorable  and  upright,  it  is  a  good 
sign  that  you  have  not  been  converted.  If  you  can  tell  a 
lie  in  your  business  transactions  you  have  not  been  con- 
verted. Do  not  let  the  devil  deceive  you.  It  is  a  master- 
stroke of  the  devil  to  get  young  converts  on  a  high  pinnacle 
and  trip  them  up,  so  that  his  followers  can  say,  "  We  told 
you  so  \  it  was  just  temporary  excitement."  We  want  con- 
versicns  rooted.  There  are  two  lives  that  a  Christian  ought 
to  live,  one  before  God  and  the  other  before  the  world,  and 
if  he  does  not  keep  up  that  life  with  God  he  will  not  have 
much  life  in  God.     It  is  not   this  kind  of  Christian  that  is 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  SOWER.  483 

going  to  stand,  and  the  quicker  they  fall  the  better  ;  in  fact, 
they  won't  have  very  far  to  fall,  because  they  never  got  up 
very  high.  They  are  like  those  Jews  who  cried,  "  Hosanna 
to  the  son  of  David,''  one  day,  and  the  next  day,  "  Crucify 
him."  Christ  ha?  a  great  many  disciples  of  that  kind.  May 
God  help  us  to  know  our  hearts  and  not  think  we  are  born 
of  the  Spirit  when  we  are  not.  The  third  class  is  the  un- 
fruitful class.  It  does  not  say  that  the  third  class  are  lost.  I 
believe  there  are  many  of  that  class  that  are  unfruitful  Chris- 
tians. If  a  man  is  really  born  of  God  and  has  been  regen- 
erated, it  is  clearly  taught  he  will  be  saved,  but  he  is  an  un- 
fruitful Christian.  This  third  class  will  be  saved,  as  Job 
says,  by  the  skin  of  their  teeth.  They  are  an  unfruitful  class 
of  Christians,  and  I  pity  them.  If  you  want  to  find  a  happy 
Christian,  look  at  that  class  that  bring  forth  one  hundred 
fold.  Some  bring  only  thirty  fold,  but  they  are  better  than 
the  unfruitful  ones.  J.et  us  seek  to  bring  forth  one  hundred 
fold.     Let  us  ask  ourselves  if  we  are  bringing  forth  fruit. 

If  a  man  is  not  honorable  in  all  his  transactions,  I  am 
afraid  he  has  not  been  converted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He  may  make  a  profession  and  get  into  the  same  church  ; 
but  we  want  a  thorough  work.  It  is  better  to  have  a  few 
who  will  stand  for  Christ  than  to  have  a  multitude  swept  into 
the  churches.  If  we  have  a  few  true,  active,  zealous  Chris- 
tians in  the  churches,  what  a  power  there  will  be  in  Boston 
for  good  throughout  New  England. 


THE  THIRTY-SECOND  PSALM. 


I  will  read  the  thirty-second  Psalm  : 

"  Blessed  is  he  whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin 
is  covered. 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  not 
iniquity,  and  in  whose  spirit  there  is  no  guile. 

"  When  I  kept  silence,  my  bones  waxed  old  through  my 
roaring  all  the  day  long, 

"  For  day  and  night  thy  hand  was  heavy  upon  me  :  my 
moisture  is  turned  into  the  drought  of  summer.     Selah. 

"  I  acknowledge  my  sin  unto  thee,  and  mine  iniquity 
have  1  not  hid.  1  said,  I  will  confess  my  transgressions  unto 
the  Lord  ;  and  thou  forgavest  the  iniquity  of  my  sin.   Selah. 

^'For  this  shall  every  one  that  is  godly  pray  unto  thee  in 
a  time  when  thou  mayest  be  found  ;  surely  in  the  floods  of 
great  waters  they  shall  not  come  nigh  unto  him. 

"  Thou  art  my  hiding-place  ;  thou  shalt  preserve  me  from 
trouble ;  thou  shalt  compass  me  about  with  songs  of  deliver- 
ance.    Selah. 

"  I  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou 
shalt  go;  I  will  guide  thee  with  Mine  eye. 

"  Be  ye  not  as  the  horse,  or  as  the  mule,  which  have  no 
understanding ;  whose  mouth  must  be  held  in  with  bit  and 
bridle,  lest  they  come  near  unto  thee. 

"  Many  sorrows  shall  be  to  the  wicked ;  but  he  that 
trusteth  in  the  Lord,  mercy  shall  compass  him  about. 

"Be  ye  glad  in  the  Lord,  and  rejoice,  ye  righteous;  and 
shout  for  joy,  all  ye  that  are  upright  in  heart." 

In  the  first  verse  it  says  :  ''  Blessed  is  he  whose  transgres- 
sion is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered  up."  Sin  is  the  cause 
of  all  transgression  ;  transgression  is  only  the  effect  of  sin. 
There  would  be  no  transgression  if  it  were  not  for  sin.  Sin 
is  the  root  and  transgression  is  the  fruit.     It  makes  a  great 


THE  THIRTY-SECOND  PSALM.  485 

deal  of  difference,  and  all  the  difference  in  the  world,  who 
covers  up  our  sins.  If  I  cover  them,  I  do  not  get  any  relief 
at  all,  because  I  know  they  are  there  and  1  cannot  tell  when 
Satan  will  bring  them  up  against  me  ;  but  if  God  covers 
them  up  no  devil  in  hell  can  find  them.  A  man  can  shout 
then  and  say.  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  sins  are  covered, 
whose  transgressions  have  all  been  blotted  out,  because  if 
God  blots  them  out  they  are  blotted  out  for  time  and  eternity. 
Will  Christ  bring  anything  against  them  He  died  for  and 
redeemed  with  His  own  blood  ?  Will  God  bring  up  anything 
against  a  man  He  has  justified?  If  God  has  covered  my 
sins  I  can  shout  with  the  Psalmist,  "  Blessed  is  he  whose  trans- 
gressions are  covered."  The  wicked*  man  may  forget  his  sins 
for  a  few  hours  or  a  few  days,  but  he  will  be  troubled  all  the 
time  ;  but  if  he  confesses  his  sins,  for  that  is  what  God  wants, 
God  will  put  them  away.  Now  in  the  third  and  fourth 
verses  it  says  : 

"When  I  kept  silence,  my  bones  waxed  old  through  my 
roaring  all  the  day  long. 

"  For  day  and  night  thy  hand  was  heavy  upon  me  :  my 
moisture  is  turned  into  the  drought  of  summer." 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  darkness  about  confession  ;  there 
are  many  who  seem  to  be  in  darkness  about  confessing  sin, 
whom  they  should  confess  to.  It  seems  to  me  that  there  are 
three  different  classes  that  we  are  to  confess  our  sms  to.  If 
I  have  been  a  public  transgressor  and  have  sinned  against 
the  public,  I  ought  to  make  public  confession.  Therefore  a 
public  confession  is  required.  If  I  have  sinned  against  any 
individual  I  ought  to  go  to  that  man  and  confess,  and  I  have 
not  got  to  make  the  confession  public.  Then  all  sin  ought 
to  be  confessed  to  God.     There  is  no  sin  but  against  God. 

All  sin  is  against  God.  There  are  some  sins  that  are 
against  God  and  not  against  the  public  or  against  individuals, 
and  therefore  we  haven't  got  to  make  them  public.  God  has 
covered  sin  and  forgiven  us,  just  as  you  forgive  your  child. 


486  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

If  you  forgive  your  child  freely,  you  do  not  want  that  child 
to  lug  up  that  sin  again  ;  it  is  forgiven  and  forgotten.  It  is 
blotted  out  forever.  That  is  the  way  you  forgive  your  chil- 
dren, and  that  is  the  way  God  forgives  us.  Love  is  quick  to 
find  expression.  It  does  not  need  any  spoken  or  written 
language.  You  sometimes  have  been  in  a  home  where  a 
mother  controls  by  a  look.  The  mother  doesn't  have  tc 
speak,  but  the  children  will  anticipate  her  wants.  God  wants 
to  regulate  his  children  in  that  way.  In  the  eighth  verse  it 
says  : 

"  I  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou 
shalt  go  ;  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye." 

He  says  He  will  instruct  us,  but  He  does  not  want  us  to 
be  like  the  horse  or  the  mule  that  has  to  be  pulled  this  way 
and  that.  If  we  will  keep  our  eyes  on  Him,  we  will  know 
what  he  wants  us  to  do.  Love  can  read  the  eye,  but  does  not 
need  any  expressed  language.  AVhen  we  first  commenced  in 
this  building  the  first  thing  we  took  up  was  this  idea  of  sin, 
getting  it  out  of  the  way.  "  Search  me,  O  God."  Has  God 
searched  you,  and  have  your  sins  been  brought  to  light  and 
forgiven,  and  are  you  rejoicing,  and  can  you  say  with  the 
Psalmist,  Blessed  is  he  whose  transgression  has  been  forgiven 
and  whose  sin  is  covered  ?  This  blessing  is  for  all.  If  we 
will  believe  in  the  Lord  God  of  heaven  He  will  blot  out  our 
sins  for  tim  \  and  eternity. 


TO  REFORMED  MEN. 


Last  Friday  I  was  to  have  a  question  drawer  to  receive 
questions  which  I  was  to  answer,  and  some  of  these  ques- 
tions are  constantly  arising  now.  As  to  this  question  that 
has  been  before  us  every  Friday  since  we  have  been  in  this 
city,  *'  Ought  a  reformed  drunkard,  whose  family  is  in  want, 
give  any  of  his  money  for  charitable  purposes  outside  of  his 
own  family?*"  perhaps  some  were  here  last  night  and  felt  as 
if  they  would  like  to  give,  because  they  have  been  so  blessed 
by  this  Tabernacle,  and  perhaps  they  felt  as  if  they  did  not 
show  true  gratitude  if  they  did  not  give.  Let  me  say  right 
here  that  your  first  work  is  to  take  care  of  your  family. 
Your  money  belongs  at  home.  If  your  wife  has  had  a  hard 
struggle,  and  you  have  been  squandering  your  money  in 
saloons  and  biUiard  halls  and  rum -shops,  you  want  to  take  it 
home  now ;  your  aim  should  be  to  make  your  home  just  as 
comfortable  for  your  dear  ones  as  you  possibly  can.  We 
read  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Timothy  and  the  eighth  verse  : 

'*  If  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  those 
of  his  own  house  he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than 
an  infidel." 

There  is  what  Paul  says  to  you  upon  that  subject.  ''  He 
is  worse  than  an  infidel." 

Let  your  first  earnings  go  to  that  home.  Clothe  your 
children,  and  don't  let  them  be  hooted  at  on  the  street  as 
sons  and  daughters  of  a  drunkard.  Give  them  comfortable 
clothes  and  a  comfortable  home,  that  is  where  you  want  to 
put  your  money.  Now,  here  is  another  question  that  has 
been  asked  :  "  Ought  a  man  to  pay  his  liquor  bills  after  he  is 


488  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

converted  ?  "  "  Render  unto  Cassar  the  things  that  belong 
to  Caesar."  If  you  want  to  have  any  influence  with  these 
rumsellers  go  and  pay  up  your  bills.  The  mistake  is  made  ; 
you  never  ought  to  have  contracted  the  bill  or  run  into  debt, 
but  if  you  have,  go  and  pay  your  debt. 

In  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Romans  and  in  the  seventh 
and  eighth  verses  we  read  : 

"  Render  therefore  to  all  their  dues  ;  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due  ;  custom  to  whom  custom  ;  fear  to  whom  fear  ; 
honor  to  whom  honor," 

"  Owe  no  man  anything,  but  to  love  one  another  ;  for  he 
that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled'  the  law." 

We  have  a  right  to  go  into  debt  for  one  thing,  that  is  love. 
I  beHeve  that  a  great  many  people  are  now  suffering,  and 
are  suffering  a  thousand  times  more  than  they  would  if  they 
had  not  run  into  debt,  not  only  for  liquor,  but  for  other  things. 
And  I  want  to  say  to  you  young  converts,  that  if  you  will 
take  my  advice,  you  will  keep  out  of  debt.  If  friends  want 
to  advance  you  money  to  help  you  up,  tell  them  you  won't 
have  it.  Don't  you  take  it.  1  would  rather  have  twenty- 
five  cents  that  I  have  earned  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow  than 
twenty-five  dollars  that  I  have  borrowed, 'and  that  I  will  have 
to  pay  back.  Work  your  way  up  to  the  top  of  the  ladder  and 
you  will  like  to  stay  up  there  ;  but  if  you  are  lifted  up  there 
by  somebody  you  will  be  all  the  time  tumbling  back  and  you 
will  get  disheartened  and  discouraged.  There  are  a  great 
many  of  these  men  that  cannot  make  restitution,  and  because 
they  have  not  paid  their  debts  there  may  be  a  good  many  of 
these  enemies  of  religion  that  will  say  that  they  have  not 
been  truly  born  again  ;  that  they  have  not  been  truly  regen- 
erated. It  may  be  that  it  will  take  years  for  some  of  these 
men  to  pay  their  debts.  They  have  been  running  up  a  pretty 
good  account,  but  that  is  not  going  to  keep  them  from 
Christ.  If  their  hearts  are  right  and  their  purpose  right,  and 
they  mean  to  pay  their  bills,  and  they  pay  them  just  as  soon 


rO    REFORMED   MEN. 


489 


as  they  can,  that  is  just  as  acceptable  to  God  as  if  they  paid 
them  all  at  once.  If  any  of  these  reformed  men  are  hundreds 
of  dollars  in  debt,  and  they  have  not  a  penny  to  pay  them 
with,  their  creditors  must  wait.  That  ought  to  be  your  first 
aim,  to  pay  off  those  debts  and  get  out  of  it  as  quickly  ai 
possible.  I  have  great  confidence  in  those  men  that  profcs^ 
to  be  reclaimed,  if  they  go  to  work.  If  you  cannot  get  whal: 
you  want,  get  what  you  can.  If  you  cannot  get  as  much  foi- 
your  work  as  you  think  you  ought  to  get,  get  whatever  you 
can.  One  of  these  men  that  had  been  reclaimed  wanted  X.^ 
find  work  right  off,  and  that  was  a  very  good  sign  of  his  con-  , 
version.  But  some  of  these  men  have  not  done  anything  for 
years  but  drink  liquor,  and  they  are  not  adapted  to  hardly 
anything,  and  they  are  not  fit  for  much  at  first.  It  is  difficult 
to  get  them  situations,  and  if  we  do  succeed  in  getting  them 
work  tliey  ought  to  take  it  and  thank  God  for  it.  If  it  is  not 
what  you  like,  thank  God  that  it  is  something.  Something  is 
a  good  deal  better  than  nothing.  There  was  one  of  these 
converted  men  in  Chicago  that  could  not  get  what  he  wanted 
to  do,  but  he  got  a  man  that  would  board  him  and  give  him 
twenty-five  cents  a  week.  He  took  up  the  offer  and  went  tOj 
work.  Twenty-five  cents  a  week  !  Well,  that  wasn't  much,  f 
but  he  got  his  board,  and  that  was  a  good  deal.  Pretty  soon 
a  business  man  heard  of  it,  and  he  said,  "  That  is  the  man 
for  me  ;  that  is  just  the  man  I  want  ;  "  and  he  hired  him  and 
gave  him  $4  a  day.  There  is  many  a  man  that  will  help  you 
\\\)  if  you  will  show  a  disposition  to  help  yourself.  There  is 
a  man  upon  this  platform  who  is  going  to  speak  to  you  that 
I  admire  very  much,  because  he  went  to  work  for  $3  a  week, 
and  hoarded  himself.  You  say  that  $3  a  week  won't  pay 
your  board,  but  it  will  help,  and  it  is  a  good  deal  better  than 
nothing. 

Nothing  won't  if  three  dollars  don't.     That  is  better  thar^ 
running  up  and  down   the  street  idle  and  getting  into  debt. 
If  you  do  this  and   work  faithfully  for  three  dollars  a  week, 
21^ 


490  TO   ALL    PEOPLE. 

it  won't  be  long  before  you  have  six  dollars,  and  then  you 
will  get  ten  dollars,  and  then  twelve  dollars  a  w^ek.  You 
want  to  get  these  employers  always  under  an  obligation  to 
you.  You  must  be  such  true  men  and  be  so  helpful  to  your 
employers  that  they  cannot  get  along  without  you,  and  then 
you  will  work  up,  and  your  employer  will  increase  your 
wages.  If  a  man  works  in  the  interest  of  his  employer  he 
will  be  sure  to  keep  him  and  treat  him  well,  but  if  he  only 
works  for  money  and  don't  take  any  interest  in  his  em- 
ployer's business,  he  will  let  him  go  at  any  time.  They  can 
get  any  quantity  of  such  men.  But  if  they  get  a  man  that 
takes  an  interest  in  his  work  they  cannot  spare  him,  for  such 
men  are  scarce.  Let  me  say  to  these  reformed  men  that, 
if  you  will  take  my  advice,  you  will  get  something  to  do.  If 
you  cannot  earn  more  than  a  dollar  a  week,  earn  that. 
That  is  better  than  nothing,  and  you  can  pray  to  God  for 
more.  Here  is  another  :  "  Would  you  advise  one  that  has 
been  converted  to  go  to  lecturing  at  once  or  wait  ?  "  It  is  a 
good  thing  to  confess.  We  read  in  the  Scriptures,  "  Go 
home  and  tell  your  friend  what  the  Lord  God  has  done  for 
you."  "Let  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  say  so."  "Would 
you  advise  them  to  go  to  lecturing  ?  "  That  is  the  mistake 
that  a  great  many  make.  A  great  many  men  have  the  idea 
that  they  can  make  their  Christianity  pay.  They  think  they 
are  going  to  make  their  living  by  lecturing.  We  have  enough 
of  that.  We  have  been  lectured  to  death  in  this  country, 
and  we  can  get  along  without  any  more.  Don't  try  to  get 
your  living  by  your  brains  and  your  wits  ;  we  haven't  any 
too  much,  the  greatest  of  us. 

Work  like  a  man,  and  then  you  will  have  more  influence 
than  if  you  are  trying  to  lecture  for  money.  I  do  not  think 
all  men  are  called  to  lecture,  by  a  good  deal.  I  say  to  you, 
don't  give  your  whole  time  to  the  Lord's  work  unless  you 
are  forced  into  it  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  If  God  sends  you, 
you  will  succeed,  and  you  won't  be  all  the  time  complaining, 


TO  REFORMED  MEN.  49 1 

and  running  after  this  man  and  that  man  for  his  indorsement, 
and  trying  to  get  his  name  and  his  influence.     Earn  youi«  ownj 
money.      These  are  hard  times,  I  know,  and  it  is  hard  to  get, 
work,  but  spring  has  come,  and  if  you  cannot  get  work  in  thej 
city,    strike   out   into   the   country.     A  great   many   farmers| 
want  men  now.     It  is  not  degrading  to  go  out  and  hoe  audi 
shovel  in  the  field.     It  is  noble,  I  think.     I  do  not  believe* 
there  is  a  man  in  this  city  that  really  wants  work  but  can  get 
it  in  the  country.     If  you  haven't  money  to  ride,  walk  out. 
You  can  foot  it  on  a  good  pleasant  day  like  this,  ten  01  fif- 
teen miles  a  day.     Besides,  you  will   have   a  better  chance 
walking  than  if  you  passed  the  farmers'  places  on  a  train. 
If  you  are  looking  for  work  do  not  beg.     Ask  for  something 
to  do.     If  you  are  offered  anything  without  work  do  not  take 
it.     They  will  give  you  some  wood  to  saw,  or  some  work  to 
do  that  will  pay  for  what  you  get.      Your  meals  will  taste  a 
good  deal  sweeter,  when  you  have  earned  them  by  the  sweat 
of  your  brow.     There  was  one  good  thing  about  that  prodi- 
gal, he  would  not  beg,  and  he  would  not  steal.     He  would 
not  even  steal  the   swine's   food.     That  is   the    kind  of  men 
we  want  now.     If  you  will  not  beg  or  steal,  men  will  respect 
and  help  you.     What  we  want  to-day  is  true  men,  and  if  peo- 
ple find  that  )^ou  are  a  true  man,  they  will  make  room  for 
you.     It  may  be  a  hard  chance  to  get  the  first  footing,  but  if 
you  hold  right  on,  God  will  open  a  way  for  you,  and  if  need 
be  send  down  a  legion  of  angels  to  help  you.     "  What  would 
you  do  with  a  man   that  would  not  work  ?  "     There   is  the 
same  thing.     I  think  Paul  has  it  right. 

If  a  man  will  not  work,  he  shall  not  eat.  I  think  we  are 
doing  these  men  a  great  injury  if  we  help  them  when  they 
won't  work.  Some  of  these  men  have  professed,  but  there 
is  a  difference  between  conversion  and  being  born  of  God  ; 
being  regenerated.  We  are  fiving  in  days  of  sham — and 
ihey  see  others  come  out,  and  that  they  are  getting  fed,  and 
getting  new  clothes,  and  they  say  :   "  These  men  are  making 


492 


TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 


a  good  thing  out  of  it ;  I  guess  I'll  reform  too."  But  it  is 
easy  to  tell  them.  They  are  a  blight  in  the  hollow  ;  they  are 
not  whole  in  the  root.  And  if  they  will  not  work,  that  is  a 
pretty  good  sign  that  they  have  not  been  born  of  God. 
When  I  was  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  Chicago  we  used  to  have  those  men  coming  in  all 
the  time.  They  would  tell  about  their  suffering,  and  how 
they  had  no  work  and  wanted  help.  At  last  I  got  two  or 
three  hundred  cords  of  wood  and  put  it  in  a  vacant  lot,  and 
got  some  saws  and  sawbucks  and  kept  them  out  of  sight. 
A  man  would  come  and  ask  for  help.  *'  Why  don't  you 
work?"  ''I  can't  get  any."  *' Would  you  do  it  if  you 
could  get  any  ?  "  "  Oh.  yes,  anything."  "  Would  you 
really  work  in  the  street  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  Would  you  saw 
wood?"  "Yes."  ''All  right,"  and  then  we  would  bring 
out  the  saw  and  sawbuck  and  send  them  out,  but  we  would 
have  a  boy  to  watch  and  see  that  they  did  not  steal  the  saw. 
Then  the  fellow  would  say,  "I  will  go  home  and  tell  my 
wife  1  have  got  some  work,"  and  that  would  be  the  last  we 
would  sec  of  him.  Out  of  the  whole  winter  I  never  got 
more  than  three  or  four  cords  of  wood  sawed.  We  heard 
from  our  friend  Dr.  Tyng  last  week  that  we  want  a  good 
deal  of  mother  in  this  work  ;  yes,  and  we  want  some  father, 
:oo.  If  you  are  always  showering  money  on  these  men, 
and  giving  them  clothing  and  raiment,  they  will  live  in  idle- 
ness, and  not  only  ruin  themselves,  but  their  children.  It  is 
not  charity  at  all  to  help  them  when  they  will  not  work.  If 
ia,  man  will  not  work,  let  him  starve.  They  never  die.  I 
tever  heard  of  them  really  starving  to  death.  You  may  say 
that  is  harsh,  but  we  need  a  little  of  that  now.  If  the  coat 
does  not  suit  don't  put  it  on,  and  if  it  does  put  it  right  on 
and  button  it  up  close  around  you.  It  says  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  Proverbs,  "  The  way  of  the  slothful  man  is  hedged 
with  thorns."  I  never  knew  them  to  get  out  till  they  worked 
their  way  out.     I  have  been  educated  in  this  school.     I  had 


TO  REFORMED  MEN.  493 

charge  of  the  relief  in  Chicago  for  a  number  of  years,  and  I 
was  brought  into  contact  with  these  lazy  men,  and  I  say 
there  is  no  hope  of  a  man  that  will  not  work.  Talk  about 
their  conversion — it  is  only  just  put  on  to  get  a  little  money 
out  of  you  without  work.  They  are  willing  to  do  anything 
to  get  on,  but  they  will  not  work,  and  these  men  are  the 
ones  we  have  so  much  difficulty  with  in  these  cities.  There 
was  a  man  I  knew  in  Chicago  ;  he  did  not  drink,  but  he  was 
always  poor.  What  kept  him  down  I  could  not  tell.  He 
had  five  beautiful  children.  I  do  not  believe  his  furniture 
was  worth  $5,  and  he  had  no  beds.  One  cold  day  in 
November  he  came  to  see  me.  He  said  the  landlord  had 
put  his  family  out  on  the  prairie.  I  said,  "  McDonald,  you 
are  a  mystery  to  me ;  I  have  known  you  for  years ;  what  do 
you  do  with  your  money  ?  I  begin  to  think,  McDonald, 
you  are  lazy." 

"  I  think  you  hit  it  there,"  he  said.  "  Well,  you  must  go," 
I  said.  "  I  pity  your  wife  and  children,  but  I  am  not  going  to 
take  care  of  a  lazy  man  all  winter."  "That's  pretty  hard," 
he  said.  ''I  know  it  is,"  I  said,  "but  I  cannot  help  it." 
That  was  in  the  morning.  About  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
he  came  back.  He  knew  I  wouldn't  let  those  children  stay 
out  all  night ;  he  knew  he  had  me.  He  asked  for  a  place 
for  his  children  to  sleep.  I  said,  "What  have  you  been 
doing  all  day  ?  "  He  used  a  great  many  big  words,  and  said 
he  had  been  studying  the  philosophy  of  pauperism.  There 
he  is  now,  I  suppose,  starving  his  family  because  he  will  not 
work.  W^e  have  got  to  take  care  of  these  children  ;  but  these 
men,  if  they  will  not  work,  must  starve.  Some  of  you  ladies 
think  you  are  doing  God's  service  by  giving  them  money,' 
but  you  are  really  injuring  them.  You  are  injuring  them 
and  their  children,  for  as  long  as  they  can  get  along  they  will 
go  on  that  way  without  work.  It  says  in  Ecclesiastes,  tenth 
chapter  and  eighteenth  verse,  "  By  much  slothfulness  the 
building  decayeth."     You  see  many  young  men  in  Boston 


494  '^O  ALL  PEOPLE, 

rotten — decayed  from  idleness.  You  cannot  keep  the  body 
healthy  without  work.  "  By  much  slothfulness  the  building 
decayeth,  and  through  idleness  of  the  hands  the  house  drop- 
peth  through."  If  you  want  to  keep  the  body  in  a  good, 
healthy  state,  you  have  got  to  work.  We  are  commanded 
to  earn  our  bread  by  the  sweat  of  our  brows.  Get  som-^thing 
to  do.  If  it  is  for  fifteen  hours  a  day,  all  the  better,  for 
while  you  are  at  work  Satan  does  not  have  so  much  chance 

\  to  tempt  you.     It  is  these  men   that  are  out  of  work  that 

1  Satan  tempts. 

"  Do  you  think  it  best  for  a  reformed  man  to  give  up  to- 
^bacco?"  Yes;  I  would  let  that  go  with  the  whiskey;  it 
is  part  of  the  old  nature.  "  Have  you  any  passage  of 
Scripture  against  this  ?  "  I  think  it  is  clearly  taught  that 
these  bodies  are  the  temples  for  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  we 
ought  to  be  careful  to  keep  them  pure.  I  do  not  think  it  is 
becoming  for  a  son  of  the  Most  High  to  be  using  that  filthy 
weed.  I  don't  know  how  it  is,  for  I  never  used  it,  but  I  have 
an  idea  that  it  whets  up  the  appetite  for  strong  drink.  It 
belongs  to  the  old  creation.  How  is  it  with  men  who  have 
no  work,  using  tobacco  ?  I  don't  see  how  they  can  afford 
it,  put  it  on  that  ground.  I  do  not  think  it  keeps  the  body 
in  a  healthy  state.  I  think  we  ought  to  be  very  careful 
about  the  body  because  it  is  so  identified  with  the  soul.  "  I 
am  so  poor  that  I  cannot  afford  to  go  to  church  ;  what  shall  I 
do  ?  "  Give  up  your  tobacco.  There  are  plenty  of  churches 
in  this  city  that  are  perfectly  free.  You  are  welcomed,  you 
are  invited,  you  are  urged  to  come,  and  there  is  not  a  min- 
ister in  this  town  but  would  like  to  see  his  church  filled. 
There  may  be  some  fashionable  churches  that  are  crowded 
without  you,  where  you  would  not  receive  so  warm  a  welcome 
as  at  others.  If  you  cannot  afford  to  pay  a  pew  rent,  tell 
them  so,  and  you  will  find  scores  of  churches  in  this  city  of 
Boston  that  will  be  glad  to  welcome  you.  I  hope  you  re- 
formed men  will  find  homes  in  churches   soon,  where   the 


TO  REFORMED  MEN. 


495 


godly  people  will  gather  around  you.  You  will  find  many 
of  the  very  best  friends  in  these  churches,  and  they  will  be 
more  than  glad  to  have  you  come.  Let  all  these  reformed 
men  find  some  church  at  once,  and  in  that  way  others  will  be 
of  great  good  to  you  and  you  to  them. 

"  If  a  man  has  fallen  twice,  shall  we  give  him  up  ?  "  The 
Lord  answers  that  question  when  He  says  :  "  Tell  Peter  to 
forgive  his  brother,  not  only  seven  times,  but  seventy  times 
seven."  Suppose  a  man  has  stumbled  once  or  twice,  you 
ain't  going  to  cast  him  off,  are  you  ?  If  a  man  should,  in  an 
unguarded  moment,  fall,  would  you  say  that  he  had  not  been 
reclaimed  ?  How  many  of  us  have  fallen  ?  Here  is  a  man 
with  a  miserable,  wretched  temper,  and,  in  an  unguarded 
moment,  he  says  some  foolish  thing ;  isn't  he  just  as  bad  as 
this  man  who  drinks  again  ?  Suppose  these  men  that  have 
been  slaves  to  Satan  twenty  or  thirty  years  should  be  tripped 
up  by  Satan,  would  you  give  them  up  and  say  there  was  no 
hope  ?  How  many  of  us  have  been  troubled  with  besetting 
sins  after  our  conversion  ?  If  Satan  gets  one  of  these  men 
down,  instead  of  publishing  it  to  the  world,  in  the  name 
of  God  let  us  help  him  up.  If  he  tumbles  a  second  time,  go 
after  him  ;  if  he  tumbles  a  third  time,  go  after  him  ;  and  keep 
going  after  him  as  often  as  he  falls.  Why,  Dr.  Newman 
Hall's  father,  I  don't  know  how  many  times  he  fell ;  he  kept 
falling  and  falling,  and  rising  and  rising,  and  at  last  he  passed 
through  the  pearly  gates  shouting,  "  Glory  to  the  Lamb  ! " 
He  got  victory  at  last.  And  so  if  these  young  converts  fall, 
let  us  not  go  out  and  publish  it  to  the  world,  but  take  them 
off  and  talk  with  them  alone  and  tell  them  we  symi)athize 
with  them.  They  are  apt  to  get  discouraged  and  say, 
"  There  is  no  hope  for  me  ;  I  have  turned  my  back  upon 
Christ ;  I  have  been  betrayed  into  my  old  sin,  and  I  cannot 
stand."  This  question  is  answered  in  Paul's  letter  to  the 
Galatians.  Some  of  these  Galatian  Christians  had  thorns. 
A  great  many  people  are  watching  :  that  is  their  business  to 


496  TO  ALL   PEOPLE, 

watch;  they  have  set  themselves  against  this  work.  All  the 
while  we  have  been  working  for  thirteen  weeks,  some  people 
in  Boston  have  been  working  against  us  :  they  have  been 
prophesying  against  us  all  the  time  and  they  must  find  some- 
thing against  the  work  to  justify  themselves.  Let  them  do 
it;  the  world  has  been  doing  that  for  t8oo  years,  and 
will  keep  on  doing  it  as  long  as  there  is  a  church  on 
earth.  These  men  have  set  themselves  against  God's  work, 
and  they  are  finding  flaws  in  it  to  justify  their  own  acts.  If 
they  see  a  man  fall  they  say,  "  I  told  you  so,  ha,  ha !"  and 
they  rejoice  and  are  glad.  "  Brethren,  if  a  man  be  over- 
taken in  a  fault."  *' Overtaken  !  "  There  is  the  poor  man 
running  away  from  Satan  and  Satan  is  after  him ;  he  is  not 
stopping  by  the  way  and  loitering,  but  the  tempter  has  over- 
taken him  and  has  got  him  down.  Ye  which  are  spiritual, 
would  you  go  and  jump  on  to  him  and  keep  him  down,  and 
say,  "  You  are  a  pretty  Christian.  You  profess  to  be  a 
Christian.  You  have  done  that  ?  "  ''Yes."  Did  Paul  tell 
you  to  do  that  ?  Is  that  the  spirit  of  Christ  ?  Is  that  the 
spirit  of  our  Master  ?  Is  that  what  the  Lord  will  have  us  to 
do?  "Ye  which  are  spiritual,  restore  such  a  one  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thyself  lest  thou  also  be 
tempted."  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest 
he  fall.  I  tell  you  when  I  see  a  poor  man  that  has  fallen  I 
cannot  help  but  feel  sorry  for  him ;  my  heart  goes  out  to 
him,  for  I  don't  know  but  I  may  be  the  next.  Let  he  thai  ' 
thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall.  And  if  a  man 
gets  strong  in  his  own  strength  and  conceited,  and  thinks  be- 
cause he  has  been  a  professed  Christian  and  done  so  much 
good  there  is  no  danger  of  his  falling,  it  will  not  be  long 
before  he  is  down.  He  may  not  fall  from  strong  drink,  bu). 
some  sin  as  bad  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  if  a  man  has  fallen 
let  us  go  and  help  him,  and  lift  him  up  and  restore  him. 

There  is  one  more  thing  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to, 
^nd  that  is  after  a  man  has  been  in  the  devil's  service  a  lon;^: 


TO  REFORMED  MEN.  497 

time  he  gets  into  the  habit  of  not  only  drinking  and  swearing, 
but  he  gets  into  the  habit  of  lying,  and  sometimes  that  old 
sin  comes  back  upon  them,  and  before  they  know  it  they 
are  using  deception.  I  want  to  say  to  you  men  that  have 
become  Christians,  if  you  want  to  get  on  be  perfectly 
truthful. 

I  have  noticed  that  some  men  because  they  have  given 
up  drink  think  that  that  is  all  they  have  got  to  do ;  they  use 
deception  and  go  on  lying.  You  cannot  prosper  if  you  at- 
tempt that.  It  says  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Proverbs  and  the 
sixteenth  verse : 

"  These  six  things  doth  the  Lord  hate ;  yea,  seven  are  an 
abomination  unto  him." 

"A  proud  look,  a  lying  tongue."  How  they  go  together  ! 
As  soon  as  a  man  gets  puffed  up  and  conceited  you  may 
look  for  his  fall.  You  hear  men  praying  to  God  to  keep 
them  humble.  Let  us  pray  to  God  to  make  us  humble  first ; 
that  is  what  we  want.  Pride  always  goes  before  a  fall,  and 
if  a  man  gets  proud  he  will  fall.  One  of  the  greatest  dangers 
you  men  will  have  will  be  spiritual  pride.  Some  of  these 
good  men  and  good  women  may  be  a  snare  to  you ;  they 
may  say,  when  a  young  convert  has  spoken,  "That  is  a 
real  good  speech  you  made ; "  the  devil  will  tell  you  that 
quick  enough.  That  is  not  going  to  help  them ;  that  is 
going  to  lift  them  up  and  fill  them  full  of  pride.  Spiritual 
pride  is  one  of  the  worst  enemies  these  young  converts 
have.  Be  careful  about  that  terrible  enemy,  and  be  care- 
ful, Christian  people,  how  you  flatter  these  young  con- 
verts. Pray  God  to  keep  them  humble,  and  don't  you  go 
and  stuff  them  full  of  vanity  and  tell  them  they  have  made 
a  good  speech.  Life  is  too  short  for  us  to  be  flattering  one 
another. 

Lying  is  just  as  bad  as  drinking.  Don't  think  that  because 
you  have  given  up  drinking  that  you  can  go  on  lying.     God 


498  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

hates  it.       He  speaks  about  lying  lips  in  the  nineteenth 
chapter  of  Proverbs  and  the  twenty-second  verse  : 

*'  Lying  lips  are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord ;  but  they 
that  deal  truly  are  His  delight." 

What  we  want  is  to  be  real.  Let  us  not  appear  to  be 
more  than  we  are.  Don't  let  us  put  on  any  cant,  any  as- 
sumed humility,  but  let  us  be  real ;  that  is  the  delight  of 
God.  God  wants  us  to  be  real  men  and  women,  and  if  we 
profess  to  be  what  we  are  not,  God  knows  all  about  us. 
God  hates  a  sham. 

"  A  proud  look,  a  lying  tongue,  and  hands  that  shed  inno- 
cent blood." 

"  A  heart  that  deviseth  wicked  imaginations,  feet  that  be 
swift  in  running  to  mischief." 

"  A  false  witness  that  speaketh  lies,  and  him  that  soweth 
discord  among  brethren." 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  speak  to  you  about  sowing  discord, 
but  we  have  not  time.  I  don't  know  how  long  I  have  been 
speaking.  I  only  meant  to  have  spoken  about  fifteen 
minutes,  and  I  have  been  speaking  (how  long  have  I  been 
speaking?) — but  I  didn't  have  anybody  to  pull  my  coat  tails. 
No-w  we  will  close  this  meeting  right  here,  but  we  will  go 
right  on  with  another  meeting  until  2  o'clock. 


THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


You  that  have  been  here  the  last  three  Sunday  mornings 
remember  that  I  have  been  talking  about  Christ.  Three 
weeks  ago  this  morning  we  were  looking  at  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  how  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  regard  to 
His  coming ;  and  the  next  Sabbath  we  were  talking  about 
His  birth,  and  last  Sunday  of  John,  the  forerunner  to  intro- 
duce Him;  and  you  remember  that  I  have  spoken  here, 
during  the  last  three  months,  of  His  birth,  His  life.  His  mira- 
cles, His  parables,  His  death,  His  burial,  His  resurrection 
and  His  ascension.  Now,  this  morning  I  want  to  talk  about 
His  coming  again.  (A  voice,  Amen  !)  There  is  more  said 
in  the  Epistles  about  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  returning  to  this 
earth  than  there  is  about  baptism.  There  is  no  denomina- 
tion, no  church  scarcely,  but  that  lays  great  stress  upon  that 
order,  and  God  forbid  that  I  should  say  anything  that  would 
give  you  to  understand  that  I  look  upon  it  lightly.  I  think 
that  every  order  that  the  Lord  has  given  us,  and  ever  com- 
manded us  to  do,  ought  to  be  carried  out  literally ;  but  we 
find  that  this  doctrine  has  been,  as  it  were,  laid  aside  by  the 
churches  sometimes — they  have  forgotten  all  about  it.  But 
I  don't  know  anything  that  will  quicken  the  church  to-day  so 
much  as  this  precious  doctrine  of  our  Lord's  return.  (A 
voice,  "Amen.")  If  I  read  my  Bible  correctly,  in  the  Epis- 
tles baptism  is  referred  to  thirteen  times  and  the  Lord 
upwards  of  fifty  times.  So  that  it  is  not  an  unscriptural  idea 
that  I  want  to  bring  before  you  this  morning.  If  the  Word 
of  God  doesn't  teach  it,  my  friends,  don't  you  receive  it ;  but 
let  us  be  ready  and  willing  to  bow  to  Scripture,  because  we 


500  1^0  ALL  PEOFLE. 

read  that  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration ;  that  we  are 
not  to  be  one-sided  Christians  and  take  up  one  truth  and 
harp  on  that  all  the  time ;  but  we  are  to  take  up  the  whole 
Word  of  God. 

Just  turn  to  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  the  first  chapter 
and  nineteenth  verse  ; 

"  We  have  also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy  ;  where - 
unto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  Hght  that 
shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day  star 
arise  in  your  heart  : 

"  Knowing  this  first,  that  no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is 
of  any  private  interpretation." 

No  private  interpretation,  It  is  for  the  whole  church  of 
God — the  whole  family  of  God. 

*'  For  the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man ;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

Now,  you  know  Gabriel  came  down  to  announce  the  con- 
ception of  Christ,  and  angel's  came  to  announce  His  birth ; 
angels  came  to  announce  His  resurrection  ;  angels  came  to 
announce  His  return.  When  those  men  stood  there  gazing 
up  into  heaven,  two  angels  dropped  down  there. 

**  And  while  they  looked  steadfastly  toward  heaven  as  he 
went  up,  behold,  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel ; 

"Which  also  said,  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing 
up  into  heaven  ?  this  same  Jesus  which  is  taken  up  from  you 
into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen 
him  go  into  heaven." 

Yes,  thank  God,  He  is  coming  again,  just  as  He  went. 
(A  voice,  *'  Amen.")  We  are  going  to  see  Him  in  person^ 
He  that  left  this  world  blessing  it — for  that  is  the  way  he  left 
this  world,  blessing  it — is  coming  back  to  bless  His  own 
church,  and  to  receive  them  that  have  waited  for  His  return. 
If  you  read  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  Matthew,  the  sixty- 
fourth  verse,  you  will  find  that  it  was  just  this  very  thing  that 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST.  501 

caused  His  death.     When  the  high  priests  asked  Him  who 
He  was,  and  if  He  was  the  true  Messiah,  what  does  He  say : 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Thou  hast  said  ;  nevertheless  I  say 
unto  you,  Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  on 
the  right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven." 

That  was  enough.  The  moment  they  heard  that  they  ac- 
cused Him  of  blasphemy,  and  condemned  Him  to  death,  just 
because  He  said  He  was  coming  again.  "  Ye  shall  see  me 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  glory."  Now,  let  me  say  that  this 
doctrine  has  suffered  a  good  deal  from  those  who  claim  to  be 
its  friends,  because  they  set  a  time — a  certain  day  for  His 
coming.  Now,  we  read  here  in  Matthew,  twenty-fourth  chap- 
ter, and  thirtieth  verse,  that  no  man  knows  when  He  shall 
come. 

"  But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the 
angels  of  heaven,  but  my  Father  only." 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  devil  is  all  the  time  trying  to 
counterfeit  these  precious  truths  so  that  the  mass  of  Chris- 
tians will  not  believe  it.  Now,  there  it  is  clearly  taught  that 
the  day  and  the  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  in 
heaven.  Now,  when  a  man  comes  and  tells  you  that  he 
knows  when  Christ  is  coming — that  He  is  coming  next  year, 
or  in  1980,  or  in  any  particular,  or  at  any  particular  time, 
he  has  got  no  truth  for  that  assertion.  "  The  day  and  the 
hour  knoweth  no  man."  I  think  if  we  knew  the  day  and  the 
hour  of  His  coming,  we  wouldn't  be  watching  for  His  com- 
ing. All  through  the  Scripture  we  are  told  to  watch  for  His 
coming. 

"  Therefore  be  ye  also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye 
think  not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh." 

And  then  we  are  also  taught  that  His  coming  shall  be 
sudden.    We  find  in  that  twenty-fourth  chapter,  thirty-seventh 

verse : 


502  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

''  But  as  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  be. 

"  For  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood,  they  were 
eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until 
the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark, 

"  And  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all 
away  ;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be." 

Now,  we  have  that  order  that  the  time  of  His  coming  is 
unknown  ;  that  He  is  coming  unexpectedly.  In  another 
place  it  says  that  He  is  coming  like  a  thief  in  the  night.  He 
is  coming  suddenly ;  but  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  He  is  com- 
ing because  that  word  has  gone  out.  Now,  I  can  imagine 
some  of  you  say,  "  He  is  coming  to  us  when  we  die."  But 
that  is  not  what  is  taught  here.  Death  is  not  the  coming  of 
the  Lord.  Just  turn  to  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  John, 
eighteenth  verse  : 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  When  thou  wast  young, 
thou  girdedst  thyself,  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldst  ;  but 
when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thy  hands, 
and  another  shall  gird  them,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou 
wouldst  not. 

"  This  spake  he,  signifying  by  what  death  he  should 
glorify  God.  And  when  He  had  spoken  this,  he  saith  unto 
him.  Follow  me." 

Now,  the  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this : 
that  Christ  didn't  look  to  His  death  and  His  coming  as  one 
and  the  same  thing.  He  kept  them  distinct.  His  coming 
is  one  thing,  His  death  is  another.  You  and  I  may  be  sum- 
moned away  before  Christ  comes ;  but  I  am  not  taught  any- 
where in  the  Scripture  to  look  for  death.  That  is  not  in  the 
Scripture.  We  are  told  to  look  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 
Now,  Peter  wanted  to  know  what  John  should  do. 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come, 
what  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou  me. 

That  is,  you  are  to  follow  me  and  not  look  to  see  what 
this  disciple  or  that  disciple  is  going  to  do. 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST,  503 

"  Then  went  this  saying  abroad  among  the  brethren,  that 
that  disciple  should  not  die  :  yet  Jesus  said  not  unto  him, 
He  shall  not  die  ;  but,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come, 
what  is  that  to  thee  ?  " 

There  is  a  difference  between  death  and  His  coming. 
Now,  I  think  that  we  make  a  great  mistake  in  saying  that 
death  is  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Death  is  one  thing,  and 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  another.  Why,  the  year  of  jubi- 
lee will  burst  upon  this  world  by  and  by,  and  we  shall  come 
up  out  of  our  graves.  That  is  distinct  and  separate  from 
death.  It  will  be  all  life  then.  We  shall  be  changed  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  Enoch  was  one  type  of  life.  He  was 
caught  up  into  heaven.  Elijah  was  translated  from  earth  to 
heaven  in  a  fiery  chariot.  These  two  represented  the  first 
two  dispensations  ;  and  so  Christ,  who  represented  the  third, 
has  gone  up,  and  when  He  comes  these  bodies  shall  come 
forth  from  their  graves.  We  are  not  going  to  die.  If  the 
world  remains,  if  we  wait  until  Christ  comes,  we  are  going  to 
defy  death. 

Death  has  been  conquered,  and  by  and  by,  I  don't  know 
when,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  we  shall  rise  victorious  to  glory. 
He  shall  come  and  set  up  His  kingdom  on  earth.  As  we 
read  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel,  that  stone  cut  out  of  the 
mountains  without  hands  is  growing  and  is  going  to  fill  the 
whole  earth.  God  has  decreed  it.  Now,  I  think  it  is  de- 
creed in  Thessalonians,  and  if  you  have  your  Bibles  here  I 
should  like  to  have  you  turn  to  Thessalonians,  because  this 
passage  is  written,  just  as  it  were,  to  the  young  converts. 
Every  chapter  in  that  first  Epistle  is  a  sermon  to  young  con- 
verts about  His  coming. 

"For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a 
shout,  with  the  \oije  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump 
of  God :  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first : 

"  Then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up 
together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air  :  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord. 


504  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

"  Wherefore  comfort  one  arother  with  these  words. ' 
That  is  the  comfort  of  the  Church ;  not  that  we  are  going 
to  die,  but  that  the  Lord  may  come  at  any  time  and  take  us 
away  into  that  bridal-chamber.  Now,  it  is  said  that  His 
coming  in  judgment  on  the  earth  to  dash  the  nations  to 
pieces  that  have  disobeyed  Him  is  one  coming,  and  that  His 
'coming  to  take  His  bride  away  is  altogether  different.  So 
His  first  coming  is  in  the  air,  and  that  is  when  we  shall  be 
caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air. 

*'  For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with 
a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump 
of  God  :  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first." 

Then,  over  here  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  John,  twenty-fifth 
verse : 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  hour  is  coming,  and 
now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God  :  and  they  that  hear  shall  live. 

"  For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself;  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself; 

"  And  hath  given  him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also, 
because  he  is  the  Son  of  man. 

"  Marvel  not  at  this,  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which 
all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  his  voice, 

"  And  shall  come  forth." 

And  by  and  by  these  slumbering  bodies  shall  be  awakened 
by  the  trump  of  God,  and  they  shall  come  forth  from  their 
graves,  and  fly  to  meet  the  King  of  Glory,  "  And  they  shall 
come  forth 

"  They  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  fife  ; 
and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  dam- 
nation." 

Now,  you  take  a  strong  piece  of  magnet,  and  then  have 
little  pieces  of  iron  or  steel  mixed  up  in  some  sawdust,  and 
just  hold  that  magnet  over  it.  Every  particle  of  steel  and 
iron  will  fly  to  meet  that  magnet.  So  when  He  shall  come 
upon  the  earth  every  one  of  His  chosen  shall  fly  to  meet 


THE   SECOiVD    COMING    OF    CHRIST.  505 

Him.  The  hour  is  coming  when  the  trump  shall  sound,  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  shall  come.  Oh,  Christ  is  going  to  come. 
Let  us  be  waiting  and  watching  and  praying  that  He  may 
come  quickly.  Now  there  are  three  great  facts  taught  in 
Scripture. 

First,  that  Christ  is  coming  again.  The  next,  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  to  come  on  us  here  in  the  world.  Now,  do 
you  believe  that  this  assembly  would  have  been  drawn  to- 
gether for  the  past  three  months  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  Do  you  beheve  that  men  would 
have  been  converted  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  ?  Is  there  any  eloquence,  any  power  in  man 
that  can  turn  the  whole  current  of  men's  lives,  that  can  trans- 
form a  poor,  miserable  drunkard,  one  who  has  made  his  home  a 
hell,  who  has  beaten  and  abused  his  wife,  can  any  eloquence, 
any  power  in  man,  I  say,  do  that  unless  it  is  b}''  and  through 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  The  next  great  fact  that  this 
Bible  teaches  is,  that  He  is  coming  again.  What  is  it  that 
makes  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John  so  sweet  ?  You  know 
there  is  probably  not  a  chapter  in  the  whole  Bible  that  is 
read  so  much  as  that  one  in  John.  What  makes  it  so  sweet  ? 
Why,  because  it  tells  us  He  shall  come  again. 

"  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled ;  ye  believe  in  God,  be- 
lieve also  in  me. 

"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  were 
not  so  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for 
you." 

Then  what  does  He  say  ? 

"  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you  I  will  come 
again  and  receive  you  unto  myself,  that  where  I  am  there 
ye  may  be  also." 

That  is  the  key-note  to  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John — 

not  that  He  is  going  to  send  death,  or  send  some  angel  after 

us  ;  but  that  He  is  coming  Himself.     He  Himself  is  coming 

back  after  His  bride.     He  came  down  here  to  get  a  bride, 

22 


5o6  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

and  the  world  rose  up  and  cast  Him  out  and  said  He 
shouldn't  have  a  bride.  Then  He  went  up  above,  and  has 
been  there  these  1800  years  gathering  out  His  brides.  Some 
one  says  you  can  get  some  idea  of  how  magnificent  these 
mansions  are  by  the  time  He  takes  to  get  them  ready. 
Now,  there  is  no  place  in  the  Scripture  where  we  are  told  to 
watch  for  signs — the  rebuilding  of  Babylon,  or  the  returning 
of  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem  ;  but  all  through  Scripture  we  are 
told  what  to  do — ^just  to  watch  for  Him  ;  just  to  be  waiting 
for  our  Lord's  return  from  heaven.  In  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians  we  read  : 

"  For  our  conversation  is  in  heaven  ;  from  whence  also  we 
look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  : 

"  Who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned 
like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according  to  the  working 
whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself." 

What  does  he  say  ?  "  Looking  for  our  Lord  and  Saviour." 
And  that's  the  attitude  of  every  true  believer  in  this  world, 
with  loins  girded,  lamps  trimmed  and  burning,  watching  for 
the  coming  of  the  bridegroom.  Thank  God,  He  will  say 
when  Christ  comes,  *'  Behold,  the  bridegroom  cometh.'* 
Now,  he  says  again  here  in  the  second  chapter  of  Titus  and 
the  thirteenth  verse  : 

"  Looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appear- 
ing of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

Now,  if  you  will  just  take  your  Bibles,  a  great  many  of  you 
will  find  that  over  and  over  again  the  Lord  has  said  that 
we  are  to  be  waiting  and  watching  for  His  coming.  The 
last  prayer  in  Scripture — what  is  it?  "Come  quickly, 
Lord  Jesus."  And  that  ought  to  be  the  cry  of  every  child 
of  God:  "Come  quickly,  Lord  Jesus."  Think  of  the  war 
that  is  bursting  upon  the  nations  across  the  waters.  Think 
of  the  blood  and  carnage.  Think  of  the  widows  and  orphan 
children,  of  the  r>ufifering  that  is  going  to  be  in  those  nations. 
But»  thank  God,  when  He  comes  there  will  be  no  more  war. 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST.  507 

(A.  voice,  "Amen.")  There  will  be  no  more  suffering. 
There  will  be  peace.  Then,  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of 
Mark,  the  thirty-second  verse,  it  says  : 

"  But  of  that  day  and  that  hour  knoweth  no  man.  no,  not 
the  angels  which  are  in  heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  the 
Father. 

"Take  ye  heed,  watch  and  pray;  for  ye  know  not  when 
the  time  is. 

*'  For  the  Son  of  man  is  a  man  taking  a  far  journey,  who 
left  his  house,  and  gave  authority  to  his  servants,  and  to 
every  man  his  work,  and  commanded  the  porter  to  watch. 

"Watch  ye,  therefore,  for  ye  know  not  when  the  master 
of  the  house  cometh,  at  even,  or  at  midnight,  or  at  the  cock- 
crowing,  or  in  the  morning. 

"  Lest  coming  suddenly  he  find  you  sleeping. 

"  And  what  I  say  unto  you  I  say  unto  all.  Watch." 

He  may  come  in  the  morning.  He  may  come  in  the 
evening.  He  may  come  at  the  cockcrowing.  In  another 
place,  Luke,  seventeenth  chapter,  it  says : 

^'  Two  women  shall  be  grinding  together  ;  the  one  shall 
be  taken,  and  the  other  left. 

"  Two  men  shall  be  in  the  field ;  the  one  shall  be  taken 
and  the  other  left." 

Christ  is  going  to  take  out  His  chosen  from  among  the 
scoffers.  By  and  by  He  is  going  to  separate  His  children, 
and  the  scoffers  and  the  workers  of  iniquity.  They  may 
scoff  and  laugh  now,  but  I  tell  you  by  and  by  there  will  be 
nothing  left. of  them.  My  friends,  you  will  find  it  to  be  true 
that  every  portion  of  the  Old  Testament  referring  to  Christ's 
coming  has  been  fulfilled.  Now,  people  say  this  is  so  won- 
derful, so  beyond  all  reason,  so  beyond  all  common  sense, 
that  we  cannot  lay  hold  of  it.  Now,  Llis  second  coming 
cannot  be  so  wonderful  as  His  first  coming.  If  a  man  had 
stood  up  and  said  that  Christ  was  going  to  be  born  of  a  vir- 
gin ;  that  He  was  going  to  be  laid  in  a  manger ;  that  He  was 
going  to  be  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  going  to  work  at  the 


5o8  TO   ALL  PEOPLE. 

carpenter's  trade  Himself  (as  He  did),  there  wouldn't  have 
been  a  man  in  the  world  who  would  have  believed  him. 

"  Oh,  that  is  figurative,"  they  would  have  said.  And  that's 
just  the  way  men  talk  now,  and  just  figure  away  everything. 
The  Scripture  was  literally  fulfilled.  He  came  just  the  way 
that  the  prophets  said  He  would  come,  and  once,  as  1 
said  the  other  morning,  He  had  to  ride  into  Jerusalem  be- 
cause it  was  prophesied  that  He  should.  Everything  was 
fulfilled.  Now,  this  prophecy  in  the  New  Testament  about 
His  coming,  in  my  mind,  my  friends,  I  haven't  the  slightest 
doubt  but  that  it  is  going  to  be  fulfilled.  That  same  Jesus 
that  was  crucified  at  Mount  Calvary  we  shall  see  at  Mount 
Calvary  again — see  His  hands  and  His  feet  pierced  with  the 
nails,  and  it  is  a  question  in  my  mind  whether  the  Jews  will 
not  receive  Him  when  He  comes  back.  They  will  receive 
Him  as  the  true  Messiah  and  take  up  the  glorious  news  of 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah  and  spread  it  around  the  world. 
Now  a  great  many  say,  "  This  doctrine  of  the  second  com- 
ing of  Christ  cannot  afi"ect  me.  He  can't  come  in  my  day. 
A  great  many  things  have  got  to  take  place  before  He 
comes.  The  thousand  years  of  the  millennium  have  got  to 
come  before  he  does."  That  is  just  the  way  I  used  to  talk. 
*•  Why,"  I  used  to  say,  '*  He  can't  come  in  my  day.  Don't 
you  know  that  there  is  to  be  a  thousand  years  of  the  mil- 
lennium ;  that  righteousness  must  increase  and  wickedness 
decrease  before  He  comes  ?  "  Ah,  my  friends,  but  since  I 
have  got  a  little  better  acquainted  with  the  Word  of  God,  I 
find  that  is  not  God's  plan ;  that  is  not  what  is  taught  here. 
Why,  just  see  what  He  says  : 

"  This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  day  perilous  times  shall 
come." 

That  do'isn't  sound  like  the  millennium,  does  it  ? 

'^  For  men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  covetous, 
boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient  to  parents,  un- 
thankful, unholy." 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST. 


509 


"  Boasters."    There  is  some  boasting  done  here  in  Boston. 

^'Without  natural  affection,  truce-breakers,  false  accu- 
sers, incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good. 

"Traitors,  heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasures  more 
than  lovers  of  God." 

I  think  we  are  coming  pretty  near  those  days  now. 

"Having  a  form  of  goodness,  but  denying  the  power 
thereof;  from  such  turn  away. 

"  For  of  this  sort  are  they  which  creep  into  houses,  and 
lead  captive  silly  women  laden  with  sins,  led  away  with 
divers  lusts  : 

"  Ever  learning  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth. 

"  Now  as  Jannes  and  Jambres  withstood  Moses,  so  do 
these  also  resist  the  truth  ;  men  of  corrupt  minds,  reprobate 
concerning  the  faith." 

"  But  they  shall  proceed  no  further,  for  their  folly  shall  be 
manifest  unto  all  men,  as  theirs  also  was. 

"  But  thou  hast  fully  known  my  doctrine,  manner  of  life, 
purpose,  faith,  long-suffering,  charity,  patience. 

"  Persecutions,  afflictions,  which  came  unto  me  at  Anti- 
och,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra,  what  persecutions  I  endured,  but 
out  of  them  all  the  Lord  delivered  me. 

"  Yea,  and  all  that  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suf- 
fer persecution. 

''  But  evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and  worse, 
deceiving  and  being  deceived." 

The  fact  is,  my  friends,  the  world  is  going  to  destruction, 
and  what  God  wants  is  to  have  us  come  out  from  it. 

"  Wherefore  come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  sepa- 
rate, saith  the  Lord,  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing ;  and 
I  will  receive  you." 

"And  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons 
and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty." 

*'  Having  therefore  these  promises,  dearly  beloved,  let  us 
cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit, 
perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God." 

And  He  is  now  redeeming  His  children,  taking  them  out 
from  the  world,  and  the  sons  of  Light  ought  to  grow  stronger 


5IO  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

and  stronger ;  but  the  wicked  men  are  waxing  worse  and 
worse.  Then  we  read  over  here  about  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  God,  that  it  shall  be  as  in  the  days  of  Noah.  How 
was  it  then  ?  Were  men  then  praising  God,  living  for  God's 
glory  ?     Just  see  what  it  says  : 

-*  But  as  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall  also  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man  be. 

**  For  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood  they  were 
eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until 
the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark. 

"  And  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all 
away;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  be." 

/  There  will  be  drunkenness  in  the  world  when  He  comes. 
/Don't  flatter  yourselves,  my  dear  friends,  that  the  world  is 
going  to  be  better  and  better.  The  world  has  not  got  better. 
It  may  be  that  the  children  of  God  are  getting  stronger  and 
stronger ;  but  this  world  is  like  a  wrecked  vessel.  It  is 
going  to  pieces  on  the  rocks,  and  God  wants  you  to  do 
everything  you  can  to  rescue  your  souls.  Now,  some  people 
say,  "  Oh,  don't  preach  that !  You  will  drive  away  people 
by  preaching  that  doctrine."  I  don't  know  of  anything 
:  that  will  quicken  men ;  I  don't  know  of  anything  that  will 
take  the  men  of  this  world  out  of  their  bonds  and  stocks 
quicker  than  that  oiir  Lord  is  coming  again.  The  way  it 
looks  to  me  is  this  :  Here  is  a  vessel  going  to  pieces  on 
the  rocks.  God  puts  a  life-boat  in  my  hands,  and  says  : 
'■*  Rescue  every  man  you  can.  Get  them  out  of  this 
wrecked  vessel."  So  God  wants  us  to  get  our  family  out 
of  the  wrecked  world  into  the  ark  of  safety,  as  Noah  did 
his  family,  and  have  them  in  Christ,  and  if  they  are  in  Christ 
they  are  safe. 

Let  me  call  your  attention  to  second  Peter,  third  chapter, 
third  and  fourth  verses  : 

"  Knowing  this  first,  that  tliere  shall  come  in  the  last  days 
scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts. 

"And  saying,  Where  is  the  pr:)mise  of  his  coming?  for 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST. 


b" 


since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  w^re 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation." 

Are  we  not  just  living  in  those  dnys  ?  Just  look  at  the 
scoffer  saying,  "  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ? 
Everything  is  moving  on.  The  sun,  moon,  and  stars  are 
shining  just  the  same  as  they  have  been  from  the  creation. 
Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?  Why,  we  are  going 
on  to  perfection  !  Everything  is  growing  better  and  better." 
But  that  isn't  what  this  Word  teaches.  It  teaches  that  the 
heavens  shall  roll  up  like  a  scroll.  He  wants  us  to  get  into 
Christ,  and  if  we  are  in  Him  we  are  saved.  Just  turn  to  the 
forty-eighth  verse  of  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew  : 

"  But,  and  if  that  evil  servant  shall  say  in  his  heart,  My 
lord  delayeth  his  coming  ; 

"And  shall  begin  to  smite  his  fellow-servants,  and  to  eat 
and  drink  with  the  drunken  ; 

'-'■  The  lord  of  that  servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he 
looketh  not  for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that  he  is  not  aware  of 

"  And  shall  cut  him  asunder,  and  appoint  him  his  portion 
with  the  hypocrites  ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth." 

There  is  another  warning.  I  have  only  time  to  just 
touch  on  this  wonderful  subject.  The  Bible  is  full  of  them. 
I  want  to  urge  these  young  converts  to  begin  and  study  the 
whole  Word  of  God.  I  don't  want  them  to  be  hoggish,  and 
take  up  one  part  only,  but  the  whole  Word  of  God,  so  that 
at  these  times  you  may  know  just  what  you  are  to  receive 
and  what  you  are  to  reject,  and  that  you  have  got  a  reason 
for  the  hope  that  is  within  you.  Now  I  want  to  call  your 
attention  to  another  thing  :  that  is,  that  every  time  you  go 
to  the  Lord's  table  you  will  go  there  not  only  to  show  forth 
His  death,  but  what  else  ? 

"  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye 
do  show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 

How  many  that  ever  go  to  the  Lord's  table  ever  think  of 
His  return  ?     Now,  I  will  tell  you  where  men  make  a  great 


512  '  TO  ALL   PEOPLE. 

Biistake.  They  go  to  the  Lord's  table  with  dread.  I  used 
to  dread  communion  Sundays — a  week  from  this  Sunday,  I 
am  told,  is  communion  Sunday.  I  used  to  dread  it.  We 
used  to  have  it  once  in  three  months.  Now  it  is  once  a 
month,  and  I  hope  we  will  have  it  every  Sabbath.  I  used  to 
go  there  thinking  of  my  own  sins  and  -the  shortcomings  of 
the  committee,  and  it  was  most  unpleasant.  But  I  found  out 
that  I  was  to  go  there  to  remember  Him,  and  now  it  is  a  place 
of  rejoicing.  I  try  to  think  just  as  little  of  myself  when  I  go 
to  the  Lord's  table  as  I  can.  There  isn't  any  place  in  the 
Scripture  where  you  are  told  to  examine  yourselves  when 
you  go  there,  but  you  are  to  go  there  to  remember  the  Lord, 
and  that  He  is  coming  back  again.  That  is  what  we  are  to 
think  about.  We  are  to  think  of  His  death  until  He  comes. 
But  then  I  can  imagine  that  some  of  you  say  that  if«l  preach 
this  doctrine,  that  the  world  is  going  to  be  destroyed,  that 
grace  has  been  a  failure.  Now,  let  me  say  right  here  that 
grace  has  not  been  a  failure.  Man  has  failed  to  lay  hold  of 
it,  and  the  world  has  spurned  the  Word  of  God,  just  as  the 
Jews  did  Christ,  years  ago.  They  would  not  receive  Him. 
Now,  the  grace  of  God  is  over  all  the  world,  and  the  world 
has  rejected  it.  Thank  God,  here  and  there  is  one  that  will 
lay  hold  of  it,  and  if  men  won't  take  hold  of  it  they  ought  not 
to  complain  that  God  is  going  to  punish  them  for  it,  because 
when  He  sent  His  prophets  they  killed  them,  ihey  crucified 
His  Son,  and  would  not  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  they  ^ 
trampled  His  Word  under  their  feet.  Why,  you  cannot  say 
He  is  unjust.  If  a  man  says,  "  I  hate  the  grace  of  God,  the 
gift  of  God  ;  I  don't  want  the  salvation  of  God  through  Jesus 
Christ ;  "  if  a  man  wants  to  be  excused  from  the  Marriage 
Feast  of  the  Lamb,  why,  don't  go  off  and  say  that  grace  has 
been  a  failure,  but  they  have  failed  to  lay  hold  of  it.  Now, 
there  is  another  thing,  that  when  Christ  comes  we  are  going 
to  be  re-united  with  our  loved  ones.  There  are  a  good  many 
here   in    this   congregation   that    have    got  more  friends  in 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF   CHRIST.      ^      513 

heaven  than  on  earth.  Some  of  you  mothers  have  got  more 
children  there  than  down  here.  Yes,  there  is  a  better  day 
for  us,  my  friends.     Glory  and  honor  to  God. 

Christ  is  coming  back,  and  I  am  going  to  see  my  loved 
ones  again.  I  am  just  waiting  and  watching  for  the  hour 
when  I  shall  hear  that  trump  sound,  and  I  shall  be  released 
to  meet  those  loved  ones  ;  and  those  that  are  with  me  that 
are  in  Christ  shall  go  up  together,  and  we  shall  be  forever 
with  the  Lord.  O,  how  we  ought  to  hail  that  day,  and  how 
the  Church  ought  to  be  watching  !  O,  that  God  would  wean 
us  from  the  world,  that  we  should  not  have  our  hearts  set  on 
things  down  here,  but  on  things  above,  where  Christ  is. 
Now,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  a  few  passages  of 
Scripture.  In  the  first  Corinthians,  eleventh  chapter,  twenty- 
fifth  and  twenty-sixth  verses,  it  says  : 

"After  the  same  manner  a.ho /le  ^ook  the  cup,  when  he 
had  supped,  saying.  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my 
blood  :  this  do  ye,  as  often  as  ye  drink  //,  in  remembrance 
of  me. 

"  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this  cup,  ye 
io  show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 

In  Luke,  nineteenth  chapter,  thirteenth  verse,  He  tells  us 
to  use  our  talents  until  He  comes.  We  must  fight  the  good 
fight  of  faith  until  He  comes. 

"And  he  called  his  ten  servants,  and  delivered  them  tei? 
pounds,  and  said  unto  them.  Occupy  till  I  come." 

In  I.  Timothy,  sixth  chapter,  verses  12-14: 

"  Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life, 
whereunto  thou  art  also  called,  and  hast  professed  a  good 
profession  before  many  witnesses. 

"I  give  thee  charge  in  the  sight  of  God,  who  quickeneth 
all  things,  and  before  Christ  Jesus,  who  before  Pontius  Pilate 
witnessed  a  good  confession. 

"That  thou  keep  this  commandment  without  spot,  unre- 
bukable,  until  the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

In  II.  Thessalonians,  first  chapter,  seventh  verse: 


52  8*  TO  ALL  PEOPLE. 

''  And  to  you  who  are  troubled,  rest  with  us,  when  tlie 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 

angels." 

In  James,  fifth  chapter,  eighth  verse  : 

*^  Be  ye  also  patient ;  establish  your  hearts  ;  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh." 

In  IL  Timothy,  fourth  chapter,  eighth  verse,  we  are  to 
wait  for  the  crown  of  righteousness  : 

"  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
r.ess,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day  ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that 
love  his  appearing." 

In  L  Thessalonians,  fourth  chapter,  thirteenth  to  eigh- 
teenth verses  : 

"  But  I  would  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  con- 
cerning them  which  are  asleep,  that  ye  sorrow  not,  even  as 
others  which  have  no  hope. 

"  For  if  we  beHeve  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so 
them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him. 

"  For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  that 
we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep. 

'•  For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a 
shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  with  the  trump 
of  God  ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first. 

"  Then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up 
together  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air  ;  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord. 

"Wherefore  comfort  one  another  with  these  words." 

We  are  to  wait  for  Satan  to  be  bound  until  He  comes. 
O,  he's  going  to  be  bound  that  day,  and  Christ,  who  has  a 
right  to  take  the  throne  of  David,  is  going  to  take  it.  Let 
us  pray  that  He  may  come  quickly.  Let  that  be  the  burden 
of  our  prayers. 

THE    END. 

*  The  total  number  of  pages,  including  Introduction,  is  528. 


INDEX   TO    -ALL   PEOPLE." 


A  murmuring  class,  20 

A  mad  man's  asylum,  26 

An  enthusiastic  general,  27 

A  Scotchman's  plea  for  India,  29 

Agencies  employed  for  salvation,  33 

A  glorious  message — "  Saved,"  38 

A  Scotchman  brought  to  God,  41 

A  church  without  a  convert,  47 

Artesian  wells,  56 

A  woman  endowed  with  Holy  Ghost, 

61 
A  criminal's  criticism,  74 
An  absurd  introduction,  77 
A  minister's  experience,  79 
"  Ask  Him  for  something,"  80 
A  common  idea,  88 
A  praying  statesman,  89 
A  man  bringing  another  many  miles, 

134 
Appeals  to  the  nobility  of  manhood, 

139 
Appetite  for  drink  destroyed,  146 
A  hopeless  case,  149 
A  remarkable  man  in  London,  162 
A  card  of  invitation,  165 
A  lively  prayer-meeting,  178 
Advertising  the  services,  181 
Aim  at  immediate  conversion,  183 
A  satisfying  portion,  204 
A  Scotch  lady's  question,  211 
A  disappointed  class,  219 
Artificial  bees,  221 
An  eastern  fable,  224 
Attempting  to  entangle  Christ,  226 
A  verse  unreached  by  many  Chris- 
tians,- 227 
A  short  sermon,  247 
Achon  in  the  camp,  274 
An  injurious  class,  291 
A  Christian  playing  cards,  292 
A  truthful  passage,  298 
A  great  prayer-meeting,  302 
Ahab  had  his  price,  303 
Ahab's  first  mistake,  303 
Ahab  and  Naboth,  305 
A  rumseller's  punishment,  307 


A  sudden  call,  312 

A  homeless  rich  man,  313 

A  dead  level  of  life  ruinous,  313 

Afraid  of  hypocrites,  318 

A  bundle  of  vanity,  319 

A  triumphant  cliallenge,  320 

A  man  saved  by  the  flag,  334 

A  happy  convert,  336 

A  feast  in  honor  of  Jesus,  341 

A  pardoned  man  on  trial,  345 

A  Jew  always  a  Jew,  354 

An  ancient  dishonor,  362 

Angels  never  lie,  363 

A  sinless  lady,  390 

Alexander  conquered  by  self,  394 

Attachment  to  Christ,  428  — 

A  message  cut  in  glass,  444 

A  thrilling  scene,  459  — — 

Ark  an  illustration,  465 

Avoid  deceit,  497 

A  good  quality  in  the  prodigal,  491 

Attitude  of  believers,  506 


B. 


Bible  attacked  in  Boston,  349 

Bibles  in  the  congregation,  350 

Believe  in  the  Bible,  351 

Boston  merchant's  request,  396 

Bhnd  doctor  in  London,  409 

"  Bound  to  die  rich,"  410 

Blinded  by  fashion,  411 

Bible  agreeing  with  the  skeptic,  420 

Brother  converted  by  a  letter,  438 

Boston  opposed  to  sudden  conver- 
sions, 465 

Brazen  serpent,  473 

Becoming  a  soldier  at  once,  475 

Boston  boasters,  509 

Boston  unbelief,  19 

Boston  excited  over  Anthony  Burns, 
24 

Bible,  a  match  for  infidels,  51 

Boy  catching  pigeons,  57 

Best  workers  for  the  inquiry  room, 

Ti 
Burial  of  Moses,  120 
Bible  the  best  book  for  inquirers,  176 


530 


INDEX. 


Best  passages  for  inquiry  room,  i86 

Boston  backsliders,  208 

Boston  people  imitating  Nathaniel, 

248 
Bible  mutilated,  275 
Backsliders  fall  gradually,  289 
Black  sheep  of  the  flock,  326 
Boston  and  primitive  scenes,  338 
Boston  and  grandchildren  of  Phari- 
sees, 341 


Confidence  in  God,  23 
Church  grieving  the  Spirit,  45 
Calling  things  by  their  right  name, 

68 
Christians  with  long  faces,  78 
Church  quarrels  an  impediment,  86 
Confession — to  whom  ?  97 
Conquering  difficulties,  109 
'-^     Childhood  and  the  cross,  132 

Child's  request  for  drunken  father, 

148 
Christ  not  a  tormentor  but  a    Sa- 
viour, 150 
Christ  receives  all  classes,  155 
Christians    distmguished    by    their 

looks,  167 
Converts'  work  in  Chicago,  169 
Converts  need  work,  170 
Circulating  the  cluster  of  grapes,  180 
Chronic  fault-finders,  183 
Church,  the  best  institution,  185 
Critics  invited  to  Jesus,  202 
Christ  raising  the  dead,  114 
Cowardly  parents,  233 
Converts  wish  to  make  converts,  235 
Conversions  of  the  Bible  are  sudden, 

251 
Coveting  a  grave  for  Boston  idols, 261 
Crossing  the  Jordan,  270 
\'     Capture  of  Jericho,  273 
Conscience  like  a  bell,  300 
Chamber  of  horrors,  300 
Covetousness,  309 
Complaints  of  backsliders,  326 
Christ  or  creed,  327 
Christians,  half  and  half,  329 
Contemptible  tempers,  394 
Captain  proclaiming  freedom,  402 
Conversion  of  a  lady  in  Scotland, 418 
Condemned  man  saved,  471 
Covered  sins,  485 


D. 


Defeat  predicted,  18 
Dreamer  and  his  ladder,  32 


Death  of  a  Sunday-school  boy,  37 

Dead  orthodoxy,  50 

Dried-up  professors,  57 

Doctors  and  patients,  65 

Death  of  a  minister's  wife,  131 

Dissatisfaction  of  crowned  heads, 145' 

Doing  the  devil's  work,  147 

Drunkards  can  reach  drunkards,  170 

Discouraged  minister,  172 

Deal  prudently  with  children,  187       ^ 

Dr.    Cuyler's  plan  in  prayer-meet- 
ing, 189 

Drunken  man  in  the  tabernacle,  198 

Dying    soldier    and    his    "father's     \ 
well,"  209 

David  an  example,  297 

Disposing  of  Jesus,  315 

Doom  of  rejectors  of  Jesus,  317 

Doctrine  of  assurance,  327 

Dog  in  lion's  cage,  380 

Devil  a  counterfeiter,  501 

Death  and  Christ's  coming  distinct, 
502 


Enthusiasm  essential  to  success,  25 
Emblems  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  52 
Entangled  in  the  devil's  net,  65 
Experiences,  twenty  years  old,  78 
Emphasizing  a  little  word,  99 
Elijah  under  the  juniper  tree,  120 
Exalting  Jesus,  287 
Empty  nets,  easily  left,  281 
Edinburgh  castle,  289 
Englishman's  idea  of  a  wealthy  man, 

376 
Excitement  in  Libby  prison,  388 
Emperor  of  Russia  and  serfs,  400 
Eastern  legend,  468 
Entering  the  refuge  quickly,  469 


F. 


Foggy  sermons,  68 

Father's  prayer  for  dying  soldier 
boy,  118 

Forgiving  and  forgetting,  125 

Father  and  son  from  India, 

Father  and  sons  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, 135 

Five  precious  things,  145 

Favoritism  in  the  family,  254 

Formalists,  318 

Five  qualifications  for  the  Christian,    \/ 

344 

Fine  looking  widow,  372 

Feeding  upon  the  New  York  Led- 
ger, 425 


INDEX. 


531 


Four  classes  of  hearers,  481 
Family  the  first  care,  487 
Father  of  Newman  Hall,  495 


Guided  by  the  Spirit  in  amusements, 

43 
God's  power  in  creation,  108 
Good  news  from  Portland,  129 
Governor  of  New  Jersey  and  Irish- 
man, 143 
God  above  nature,  199 
Growing   into   Christianity  a  delu- 
sion, 205 
Gambler  and  his  friends,  425 
General  Swift,  a  secret  disciple,  447 
Governed    by    the     experience    of 
others,  479 


H. 


How  to  please  a  father,  91 
Humility  a  flower  of  paradise,  107 
Healthful   and   thankful  Christians, 

129 
Hippodrome,  a  tramp  in  the,  147 
How  to  fill  pauses  in  prayer-meet- 
ings, 187 
_W   Herod  and  the  wise  men,  373 
V'Herod's  doom,  374 

"  Herrings  for  nothing,"  384 
Hippodrome,  Frenchman  in  the, 418 
Help  the  fallen,  495 


Ignoring  the  Sabbath,  90 
Inebriate  converted,  100 
Intemperance  worse  than  war,  136 
Inability  to  fix  the  hour  of  conver- 
sion, 204 
Importance  of  confession,  285 
Interview  between  Christ  and  Peter, 

294 
Ignorance  of  the  Gospel,  383 
Infidel  father  subdued  by  his  boy, 

391 
Intelligent  faith,  448 


J. 


Joshua's  defeat,  95 

Joining  the  church  too  soon,  174 

John's  object  in  writing  his  Gospel, 

191 
Jesus  in  the  Old  Testament,  217 
Jacob's  mother  teaching  him  to  lie, 

253 


Jacob  repioduced  in  the  church,  254 

Jacob's  title,  255 

Jacob  driving  sharp  bargains,  257 

Jacob's  altar  at  Sheckem,  260 

Jacob  in  affliction,  262 

Jacob  mourning  for  Joseph,  263 

Jacob's  estimate  of  his  life,  264 

Joshua  at  Jericho,  271 

Joshua  and  the  kings,  276 

Joshua's  death,  277 

Joshua's  dying  testimony,  278 

Jesus  an  example  of  industry,  451 

John's  preaching,  453 

John  an  eloquent  man,  459 

John  in  prison,  462 


K. 


Knox  in  Scotland,  433 


Lost  before  the  judgment,  31 

Loss  of  the  soul,  36 

Looking  for  results,  63 

Large  and  small  audiences,  70 

Love  pained  by  suspicion,  84 

Laziness  anti-Christian,  159 

Long  prayers  an  abomination,  189 

Light  and  fulness  in  Jesus,  193 

Looking   at  water  will   not  quench 

thirst,  220 
Limiting  God  to  one  method,  232 
Lady  and  Shepherd,  376 
Libby  prison,  398 
Luther  in  Germany,  433 
Love  needs  no  form  of  speech,  486 
Lectured  to  death,  490 

M. 

Men  of  faith  needed,  17 
Minority  and  majority  report,  19 
Moody's  admiration  for  .Garibaldi, 

26 
Moody  seeking    non-church-goers, 

28 
Minister  saved  from  flogging,  35 
Moody  and  the  clown,  35 
Moody  waking  a  man  on  the  street, 

49 
Ministerial  buckets  empty,  57 
Moody  and  the  minister  in  England, 

60 
Mistake  of  the  churches,  66 
Moody's  object  in  preaching,  71 
Moody  and  the  mad  man,  74 
Moody's  daily  rule,  74 
Moody's  love  for  his  wife,  78 


532 


INDEX. 


Moody  yoking  two  passages  to- 
gether, 87 

Mother  and  daughter,  98 

Mercantile  lying,  100 

Moody's  prayer  for  children,  133 

Mother  in  Liverpool  and  boy  in 
Boston,  134 

Moody   and   temperance   societies, 

137 
Moody's  cure  for  drunkenness,  137 
Moody's  hope  for  Boston,  139 
>^-  Moody  and  his  early  caller,  142 
v'   Moody  and  men  who  have  lost  self- 
control,  144 
Moody  and  the  saloon-keeper,  160 
Moody  learning  his  mission,  164 
Moody's  method  of  filling  churches, 

168 
Moody  not  a  teacher  of  baptism, 

173 
Moody's  plan  for  reviving  New  Eng- 
land, 173 
Moody's  method  with  inquirers,  175 
Moody's  method  with  infidels,  175 
Moody's  estimate  of  covenants,  180 
Minister  and  the  theatre,  182 
Moody  asleep  in  church,  184 
Moody's  verses  for  inquirers,  192 
Men  of  tact  needed,  196 
Miracles  of  Christ,  197 
Miss  Smiley   and  colored  women, 

228 
Moody  and  the  funeral  sermon,  243 
Martha's  creed,  244 
Matthew,    an   example   of    sudden 

conversion,  246 
Moody  predicting  the  time  of  con- 
version, 251 
Moody  troubled  about  Jacob,  253 
Moody's  view  of  wrestling  Jacob, 

259 
Minorities  unpopular,  266 
Man-made  preachers,  279 
Moody  in  Farwell  Hall,  320 
Moody  and  two  ladies,  323 
Moody  correcting  his  little  girl,  331 
Moody  and  the  rod,  333 
Moody  and  the  druggist,  333 
Mention  of  Gabriel's  name,  361 
Misquoted  passages,  375 
Mother  bereft  of  seven  children,  390 
Moody,  the  old  and  the  new,  419 
Man  and  thirteen  servants,  424 
Mrs.  Comstock  and  her  sons,  441 
Moody's  idea  of  laziness,  450 
Moody's  first  visit  to  Faneuil  Hall, 

477 
Moody's  method  with  idle  men,  492 
McDonald  and  his  family,  493 


Moody's  advice  on  tobacco,  494 
Magnet  and  pieces  of  steel,  504 
Moody's  dread  of  the  communion, 
512 


N. 


New  England  afraid  of  enthusiasm, 

24 
Nicodemus  a  D.D.,  31 
No  drunkard  can  reel  into  heaven, 

2,1 
Nicodemus  a    respectable    sinner, 

250 
Natural  and  moral  reaping,  296 
New  York  merchant,  410 
Nine  new  things,  416 
New  name  and  a  new  way,  422 
Naaman  suddenly  cured,  471 


O. 


Oranges  for  scissors,  44 

Out  of  the  temple  into  the  arms  of 

Jesus,  236 
One  thing  against  Joshua,  267 
Opposition  expected,  437 


P. 


Personal  questions,  32 

Personal  preaching,  46 

Powerless  church-members,  54 

Prayerless  prayers,  59 

Publicans  and  rum-sellers,  64 

Philip  and  the  inquirer,  71 

Personal  prayer,  76 

Personal  confession,  'jd 

Publishing  conversion,  153 

Persevering  teachers  successful,  159 

Preaching  of  John,  194 

Pride  and  whiskey  incompatible,  201 

Painting  old  pumps,  206 

Picture  of  Christ  in  Crystal  Palace, 

244 
Peter's  faith,  282 
Peter's  short  prayer,  283 
Peter  a  ritualist,  285 
Peter's  fault,  288 
Peter's  martial  spirit,  290 
Peter  in  bad  company,  291 
Peter's  denial,  292 
Peter  rebuked  by  a  look,  293 
People  who  cannot  pray,  322 
Printed  prayer  for  a  backslider,  324 
Philip  and  Andrew  Society,  339 
Prophecy  concerning  Egypt,  353 
Providing  a  king  for  Wales,  369 
Paying  rum  bills,  488 


INDEX. 


533 


R. 


Reducing  an  army  to  win  victory, 

22 

Resisting  truth,  48 
Result  of  a  single  conversion,  72 
Reputation  an  impediment,  85 
Rejoicing    over    weakness    of    the 

Church,  112 
Requests  for  prayer,  scriptural,  117 
Results  of  the  Chicago  revival,  119 
Repulse  at    u,  273 
Revivals  not  new,  310 
Roman  Catholic  bishop   in  prison. 

Reformers  die,  but  Jesus  lives,  358 
Rescuing  sheep  in  the  Highlands, 

377 
Referring  it  to  the  minister,  423 
Ralph  Wells's  story,  439 
Russian  prince  building  ships,  450 
Reunion  in  Heaven,  512 


Stirring  the  Church,  58 

Sinners  love  to  argue,  67 

Standard  too  low,  77 

Sin  makes  prayer  powerless,  77 

Surgeon's  tactics,  84 

Self,  our  greatest  foe,  102 

Sectarianism,  103 

Self-seeking  an  obstacle,  105 

Strife  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross, 

106 
Songless  churches,  128 
Six  thousand  millions  for  drink,  136 
Story  of  a  Chicago  drunkard,  138 
Sign  of  conversion,  151 
Skeptical  soldier  and  comforter,  156 
Spasmodic  effort,  a  failure,  158 
Singing  essential  to  success,  170 
Singing  in  a  saloon,  171 
Spurgeon's  remark,  183 
Silence  men  of  doubtful  piety,  190 
Surgeons  take  worst  cases  first,  213 
Salvation  indiscriminately   offered, 

224 
Sound  as  an  Andover  theologian, 235 
S3'rian    missionary  and   shepherds, 

238 
Sheep  follow  strangers  only  when 

sick,  238 
Safety  of  the  Lord's  sheep,  239 
Spurgeon's  saying,  251 
Successful  people  never  whine,  267 
Secret  service,  284 
Saving  a  train  from  ruin,  304  " 
Sheep  known  by  defects,  378 


Shepherd     leading     flock      across 

stream,  381 
Spurgeon's  parable,  399 
Southern  hotel  disaster,  405 
Spurgeon  in  London,  434 
Sick  boy  and  his  list  of  converts,  440 
Scotchwoman's  reply,  448 
Slave  crossing  Canada  line,  470 
Scotch  lassie's  prayer,  474 
Small  wages  better  than  nothing,  489 
Study  the  word,  511 


True  source  of  help,  21 
Tabernacle  a  warning,  34 
The  sale  of  a  soul,  39 
The  dying  child's  question,  39 
Testing  theories  by  the  word,  42 
The  drunkard's  only  hope,  44 
Three  classes  in  the  church,  55 
Three  kinds  of  service,  62 
Two  ways  of  teaching,  64 
Taught  by  a  bootblack,  7^ 
Talking,  and  saying  nothing,  79 
The  judge  and  the  soldier,  91 
"  The    Moody   and   Sankey    Hum- 
bug," no 
The  devil's  "  ifs,"  114 
The  devil's  influence  over  men,  115 
Three  thoughts  upon  Phil.,  4:6,  119 
The  boy  and  the  razor,  121 
The  disciples'  prayer,  122 
Two  unforgiving  ministers,  123 
The  woman  who  refused  to  forgive, 

123 
Two   young  ladies   forgiving   each 

other,  126 
The  little  Corneliuses,  135 
Three  names  for  importunity,  142 
Three  kinds  of  Christians,  164 
Take  children  to  church,  177 
Thirty  ministers  and  a  failure,  179 
The  two  London  brothers,  195 
The  law  and  the  Gospel,  197 
Tabernacle — minister    and    infidel, 

200 
The  mirage  on  the  plains,  209 
The   young  miss  going  higher  for 

water,  210 
Testimony  for  Jesus,  216 
Three  sad  things,  222 
The   Gospel  of  John   and   Christ's 

Divinity,  229 
Turned   out   of  one   church  —  into 

another,  234 
Three  marks  of  the   Lord's  sheep, 

237 
Tabernacle  and  dead  souls,  243 


534 


INDEX. 


Three  things  before  raising  Lazarus, 
244 

The  power  of  conscience  in  a  bur- 
glar, 299 

The  cost  of  one  act,  307 

Three  fatal  steps,  314 

The  Samaritan  woman's  work,  340 

The  prayers  of  Jesus,  346 

Two  Jewish  rabbis,  352 

Tabernacle — the  attraction,  355 

Token  seekers,  364 

Two  hundred  and  fifty-six  names,366 

The  two  ministers,  382 

Two  ways  of  coming  to  Christ,  387 

The  worst  kind  of  bondage,  403 

Thrilling  letter  from  a  forger,  413 

The  ring  of  counterfeit  money,  420 

The  "  old  man  "  not  dead,  421 

The  little  cloud,  435 

Three  wiles  of  the  devil,  436 

The  young  ruler,  442 

Two  fast  colors,  472 

The  "  Cradle  of  Liberty,"  477 

Transgressions  covered,  484 

The  second  coming,  499 

Three  scriptural  facts,  505 

The  world  a  wreck,  510 


U. 


Unbelief  a  hindrance.  18 
Under  the  pierced  clouds,  52 
Unwilling  to  be  taught,  69 
Unpopularity  of  self-reaching,  83 
Unbelief,  a  disqualification,  85 
Unpopular  in  Babylon,  94 
Unconfessed  sin  like  a  bullet,  96 
Ugly  moods  of  convicted  men,  116 
Unable  to  eat  till  forgiven,  126 


Unseemly  haste  in  leaving  Taber- 
nacle, 166 
Urge  immediate  prayer,  176 
Union  officer  and  slaves,  402 


Value  of  a  mad  man,  25 
Vain  attempt  of  infidels,  234 
Vacillation  of  Pilate,  316 

W. 

Waiting  for  an  answer,  142 
Welcome  home,  152     • 
Waiting  to  get  ready,  156    .. 
Working   others   by   working    self, 

179 
Warning  a  proof  of  friendship,  304 
Willie  in  anger,  379 
Willie  and  his  sister,  386 
Wounded  soldiers  at  Paris,  387 
War-wrecks  in  the  South,  419 
Woman  eighty-five  years  old,  431 
Wesley  and  Whitefield,  434 
Working  out  salvation,  illustrated, 

480 
War  across  the  waters,  506 
Warnings  of  the  Bible,  511 


Young  convert  reproved,  86 
Young  lady  and  street  work,  164 
Young  minister  rebuked,  311 
Young  lady  at  Wellesley  College, 

423 
Young  man  and  abused  mother,  425 
Young  man  ashamed  of  himself,  447 


Date  Due 


.JE4~'54 


SAi**frgi 


